


The Number Seventeen

by CaninaStarstreak, ramvne



Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: Female Pidge | Katie Holt, Fluff and Angst, Keith and Lance are on the school track team, Keith and Lance rivalry at first, Keith and Shiro are Siblings, Keith is a merman but only when he gets wet, M/M, Slow Burn, Tags May Change, blood but not really, like a fuckton of eye rolling, lots of cussing, so much blushing jfc
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-09-21
Updated: 2018-12-31
Packaged: 2019-01-01 04:15:21
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 13
Words: 28,394
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12148419
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/CaninaStarstreak/pseuds/CaninaStarstreak, https://archiveofourown.org/users/ramvne/pseuds/ramvne
Summary: Lance decides to pull a strange prank on his rival Keith for their last high school Prank Day, but once he does, he discovers Keith's biggest secret.





	1. the plan

**Author's Note:**

> This is my first fanfiction y'all I'm so excited! A huge chunk of credit goes to my Best Fangirl Friend Im_going_to_sleep_now, because she gave me the idea for a Merman Keith fic! I love this story, and I hope you will too! Enjoy!

Lance stared at the back of Keith’s head, wondering for the millionth time if he could just snip that stupid mullet off with his scissors and if Keith would notice. Unfortunately, Lance sat behind Keith in three of his classes, so he had to stare at that mullet for hours every day. If it was anyone else, Lance wouldn’t have minded. He just happened to have an intense, almost illogical rivalry with Keith ever since freshman  year of high school. Keith had bumped into him and didn’t say sorry. They were seniors now, and normally still upholding the rivalry over that would have been petty, but Keith seemed to take the rivalry as a challenge and constantly one-up him like some stuck-up, arrogant little _mullet-headed_ -...Okay, Lance was a little petty.

Besides, they were graduating at the end of the year, and Lance felt it was futile to make up now. He was ready to kiss that mullet goodbye and get as far away from Keith as possible. But, he’d be damned if he didn’t start this year’s rivalry with a bang. Prank Day marked the end of the first month of the school year, and Lance had the perfect plan. He and Keith were on the school track team, constantly racing each other. It was known throughout the school that Keith hated getting wet. He always had an umbrella with him, even when there wasn’t a cloud in the sky. Nobody understood it. He hardly came to school on rainy days, earning the nickname Keithy-cat from Lance. Anyway, after track practice, Lance planned to dump a giant bottle of water right on top of hi-

“Lance McClain!”

“The answer is seventeen!” He shouted without thinking. Everyone turned to stare at him.

“Um, this is English class and I was taking roll. Are you feeling alright, hun?” said Ms. Kathrine.

Lance paled. “Uh, I’m fine, Ms. K.” he said and tried for a finger gun. God, just end him now and save him the embarrassment. He didn’t notice Keith roll his eyes, he was too busy winking and trying not to look like he was about to vomit. Ms. Kathrine didn’t look convinced, but she continued taking roll. Lance breathed again and glared at Keith like it was all his fault. Keith, of course, returned it with the usual “the fuck did I do to you?” look, and Lance rolled his eyes. He could not wait for Prank Day.

*     *     *

“Dude, you should just _let it go._ I bet Keith’s just as tired of this “rivalry” as I am!” said Hunk, his best friend.

“Besides, you’re just dumping water on his head. I’ve seen you prank at least ten people better than that.” Pidge, their best friend, added. Lance rolled his eyes for the thousandth time that day. It was lunchtime and Pidge, Hunk, and Lance were sitting outside on the grass, eating school-issued pizza that tasted like vomit on bread. Lance had just told them his plans for Keith on Prank Day. Unfortunately, even though they were already scowling because of the pizza, their scowls just deepened; Hunk’s in annoyance, and Pidge’s in disappointment. “Guys, come on! Keith’s been messing with me since freshman year! Pidge, you have a few classes with him. You’ve seen that dumb umbrella he carries around everywhere. He hates water, it’s perfect!” he said.

“But that’s so laaaaame!” Pidge whined as she flopped backward onto a patch of clover. “I know you care about your pranks being harmless and hilarious, but really? Dumping water on him after track practice on a hot day? He’ll probably enjoy it! You can do so much better!”

Hunk snorted. “You mean like in sophomore year when he dyed some mayonnaise brown and replaced your peanut butter with it?”

Pidge sat up and glared at Hunk. “I thought we agreed to never speak of that day again.”

Lance couldn’t contain laughter at the memory. “I still can’t believe you fell for that!” he screeched, still giggling. “I mean, mayonnaise feels nothing like peanut butter, how did you not notice?”

“I got home from swim practice craving a spoonful of peanut butter! My muscles were so sore, how the hell could I tell the difference?!” Lance and Hunk just laughed harder. Pidge, sensing possible defeat, decided enough was enough. She pounce-flopped on top of both of them. It sure as hell shut them up and ended her suffering, while at the same time starting theirs.

“Ow!” Lance yelped. “What the hell, Pidge?”

“You needed it.” she purred, stretching out comfortably on their stomachs.

“How did that hurt so much?” Hunk wondered. “I mean, Pidge, you’re twelve and only weigh ninety pounds.”

“Hey! I’m fifteen, and I weigh a hundred and eight!” Pidge squealed as Hunk lifted her off him and Lance and held her over their heads.

“Yeah, more like eighty.” he teased.

“Hunk! Put me down! Lance!” Pidge tried, but Lance just smirked up at her, not even lifting his head. He was too preoccupied with staring at the indignant look on her face and the way the fluffy white clouds really framed the “fuck you” in his friend’s eyes.

“Okay.” Hunk said as he let his arms go limp. Pidge shrieked so he kept an arm on her back to cushion her as she fell between him and Lance. She hit the ground with a soft but satisfying thud.

Pidge laid there and accepted defeat. “Why?” she demanded, which was the politest “fuck you” Lance had ever heard.

It was too easy. “You needed it!” he and Hunk sang. Even Pidge laughed. They mutually decided to stay laying down. The September sun was too hot and the grass was too comfy to get up now.

“So, back to Keith, Lance.” Hunk began.

Oh great.

“He’s actually a nice guy, and I think you shouldn’t do it.”

“Or at least come up with a better prank.”

Lance considered it for a moment. He finally decided, “Ugh, fine. I’ll only do it if he beats me in the end-of-practice race on Prank Day, or if I haven’t come up with something better by then.” Pidge made a satisfied noise in the back of her throat and Hunk, while still disapproving a little, said “Well I can’t stop you.”

So they laid there, enjoying the sun’s warmth, shitty pizza totally forgotten. It was so cozy and peaceful that Lance was about to fall asleep before THE FUCKING SCHOOL BELL RANG AND SCARED THE LIVING SHIT OUT OF HIM!!!!!!


	2. roseblush

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Keith wonders, Lance doesn't know how to stop his embarrassment, and Pidge and Hunk decide that two idiots are better than one.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I know I said it would take a week but I needed an excuse to procrastinate my chores and and an essay due tomorrow that I haven't started yet. Shoot me.

Keith had run out of fucks. He didn’t really expect Lance to give up on the rivalry he kept insisting they had. He was just annoyed that Lance hadn’t gotten at least a little bit tired of it by now. Keith didn’t care if Lance didn’t like him, or if anyone did. He just wanted to know why the hell Lance always said _he’_ d started it. He rolled his eyes. They’d only been back at school for three days and Lance had already come up with five new stupid nicknames. He sighed. At least Keith only had to deal with him until the end of the school year. Then he’d finally be free from that delusional, obnoxious-

“Keith Kogane!”

“The answer is seventeen.” he said, completely bored.

“Correct.” said Mr. Iverson. Keith had the familiar feeling of a “fuck you” look being burned into the back of his head.

Huh. So he had Lance behind him in Calculus too.

*     *     *

“Keith Is such an asshole! Whyyyy do I have to put up with that stupid jerk in _three_ of my classes?”

Pidge and Hunk listened to Lance’s rant obediently, while both still wearing “I’m so fucking done” expressions.

“Dude, just let it go.” Hunk tried uselessly.

“Let it go? _Let it go?_ That _pandejo_ had the _nerve_ to be right in Calculus!”

“That’s what this shit’s about?!” Pidge’s expression morphed to complete disbelief. “Lance, at this point even _I’m_ starting to think you’re losing it.”

Lance huffed. “What the heck do you mean I’m losing it?”

Hunk stared at him. “Lance, you were _just now_ ranting harder than a sixteen-year-old girl who got the wrong order at Starbucks.”

Lance paled. “Holy shit, that hard?”

“Yep. My six-year-old sister would have been proud.”

Lance took a step back and analyzed his rant. Once he realized that he just chewed Pidge and Hunk’s ears off only because Keith got a question right, he pulled them into a hug. “I’m sorry. He just really pisses me off.”

They returned the hug, and Pidge chuckled. “You know, you talk about him so much that if I didn’t know you better, I’d think you had a crush on hiiiim.” she teased.

Lance flushed and immediately shoved her out of the group hug. “I _do not_ have a crush on Mullet-head!” he screeched. “He’s my arch-nemesis!”

Hunk snickered. “You’re blushing.”

Lance blushed harder and turned away. “I am not!” He caught a glimpse of his reflection in a classroom window and blushed even _harder._ He turned back to his friends once got his blush down from lobster to peony. He thanked every star in the sky that he had darker skin to hide the still mortifying shade. “Guys, I _can’t_ have a crush on Keith. It’s just wrong. It would be like…” He was so busy trying to think of a commonly thought of but just _wrong_ couple, that he didn’t notice Pidge smiling and Hunk trying to warn him. Keith was walking right towards them.

“It would be like mixing skittles and M&M’s!” he finally said.

“Who the fuck would do that?” Keith asked. Lance nearly shat a brick. His blush skipped right the fuck over lobster and went straight for cinnamon flame. He squeaked higher than his baby sister and leaped into the nearest bush. Keith couldn’t see him like _this!_ He’d get completely the wrong idea! Keith would think he was blushing because of him! Well, Lance thought, he was. Lance sighed and decided that he should stand up and attempt to reclaim a bit of his dignity. He shifted backward in his crouching position and yelped at a sharp pain. He tried going forward and yelped again. What the-?

Keith stared at Lance with an impressed but mildly sickened look. “Wow. I actually can’t believe that Lance would rather jump in a group of rosebushes than talk to me.” He turned to Pidge and Hunk. Pidge looked like she was trying not to cry from holding in laughter, and Hunk looked horrified. “What was…?” He gestured to Lance, who was still trying to get out of the bush.

Hunk snapped out of his daze. “Oh, he’s just jumpy because we were studying spiders in class.” Lance looked relieved and Pidge looked like Christmas had been cancelled. So, that obviously was a lie, but Keith decided not to press. It wasn’t his business anyway. But that didn’t mean he wouldn’t use this new information to get some well-deserved revenge.

“Wow, really Lance? Even when I was six I wasn’t scared of spiders. Are you six?”

Lance jumped completely out of the rosebush at this and Keith choked and almost dropped his umbrella. Lance had two blood red rosebuds and a full bloom in his dark brown hair and it looked _good._ He started blushing when he noticed how nice the green thorns and vibrant red petals that stuck to his shirt (and face) looked with the blue sleeves. Then he noticed that his dark blue eyes were burning with intensity and Keith had to catch himself before someone noticed him practically _drooling_ over how cute Lance looked right now. Wait, What the hell? Lance was _cute?_

Fortunately for Keith, Lance was too angry to notice Keith eyeing him. “Well, _excuse me_ asshole, but did _your_ older sister put a rubber tarantula in your applesauce when you were four because you didn’t share your cookie?” Lance glared at Keith and waited for a response.

Unfortunately for Keith, he was in no condition to answer right now. He decided on an eye roll and a “whatever” before getting the fuck out of there.

Lance put a hand on his hip and watched Keith go. “Can you _believe_ that jerk?”

Hunk shook his head, but Pidge couldn’t contain it anymore. She burst out laughing.

“You- You jumped- in a- a fucking- ROSEBUSH!!!” she wheezed between cries of laughter.

“Well, you didn’t warn me enough!”

“What, warn you and miss that _beautiful moment?_ Hell no!” She was on the ground now, grabbing at her sides from the laughter.

Lance rolled his eyes and started picking thorns and petals off of him. “Whatever, I have to get to Art. See you guys later.”

Pidge had calmed down enough to say “You’ve got a thorn in your forehead.” with a giggle.

Lance plucked it out and flipped her off all the way until he went around the corner.

The second Lance was out of sight, Pidge turned to Hunk.

“Ohmygod,didyouseethat?!?!” Pidge squealed.

“Keith was totally _ogling_ him!!”

Pidge squealed higher. “We have to get those idiots together! I’ve had enough of this ‘rivalry’.”

Hunk smiled. “What’s the plan?”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This is personally my favorite chapter because i actually did jump in a rosebush once to avoid my crush. Anyway, I need to start that essay. See y'all in a few days!


	3. name and shame

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Hunk has a classic plan for klance, and Keith really needs to get his shit together.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This chapter's a little short, but that's only because chapter four's gonna be a big one. Enjoy!

Pidge flopped onto the picnic table while Hunk sat nicely. Lance was in the library and they had about ten minutes to discuss operation “get those idiots together” before he got back. “This is no use, Hunk! Prank Day is in three days! If we don’t get those morons to make up soon, Lance will pull his lame water bottle prank and Keith will hate him!” she said with a dramatic huff.

Hunk, always the voice of reason, reassured her. “I don’t think Keith will  _ hate  _ him, Pidge. Lance has been pushing this rivalry since forever. I’d be surprised if he wasn’t used to this sort of thing by now.”

Pidge sighed, getting down and sitting right. “Fine, but it’s been almost three weeks. Did you come up with any plans either?”

Hunk smiled. “Actually, I have. First, before we can think about getting them to be boyfriends, we need to get them to at least be friends. They’ll never talk to each other on their own though, which is why I’m thinking of a classic. We lock them in a closet and refuse to let them out until they’re even better friends than us.”

Pidge was grinning from ear to ear. “I like it! How will we get them in the same place?”

Hunk thought for a second. “You’re Keith’s lab partner, right?”

“Yeah.”

“Okay, then after school I want you to bring him to your house saying that you two need to study, and I’ll bring Lance over saying that we’re having a MarioKart tournament.”

“Sounds like it’ll work, but when should we do it?”

“The soonest I’m free is Friday.”

Pidge stared at him. “Are you serious? The day  _ after _ Prank Day?”

“Yeah. At least it’ll make them get over Lance’s prank sooner.”

She nodded. “Alright, Operation ‘get those idiots together’ is a go!” she shouted gleefully.

“We really need a better name.”

*     *     *   

Keith mentally stared at the Cuban boy sitting right behind him. It was second period on Prank Day and Lance still hadn’t done anything to him yet. It was making him extremely uneasy, and he was almost praying for Lance to just  _ get it over with. _ Previous Prank Days featured constant fuckery with Lance, due to their extremely one-sided rivalry. Keith was used to rubber animals, getting ambushed and wrapped in toilet paper, even just the horrible pun insults Lance lovingly named “pun-ishments.” It was so abnormal for Lance to be this quiet. Keith felt like he was staring at the low tide before a tsunami, just waiting for-

“Keith Kogane!”

“The answer is seventeen!” he shouted. Oh dear god,  _ no! _

Ms. Kathrine gave him a deadpan stare. “Is this a joke?”

Keith shifted, sweat glands  _ pouring.  _ “Uh, No ma’am.”

She nodded. “Mariella Johnson..” Ms. Kathrine continued.

Keith turned around warily to look at Lance. Lance simply smirked and gave him a beaming smile. But it wasn’t an “everybody makes mistakes” type of grin. It was more of a “This is just the beginning, get ready bitch” type of smile that Keith refused to admit looked good on him.

Shit.

He felt his blush coming and instantly whipped back around. He put his head  down into his arms to hide it. He looked out of the corner of his eye at Lance, who just kept beaming devilishly.

What the fuck was he planning? 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> get ready for next chapter ny'all! Coming next week!


	4. the reveal

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Lance pulls his prank and gets much more than a pissed-off Keith.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I am back witches! My full account of my fire and house situation will be in the end notes, because it sucked keeping y'all waiting so long! Heads up, I've never been on a track team because I personally think running was invented by the devil, so this is my best guess. I'm also a sophomore so I don't really know how senior classes work, but fuck it my best guess is good enough. Enjoy!

     The entire track team was doing stretches in preparation for the end-of-practice race. Keith glared at Lance stretching in front of him. The entire day had gone by without a single prank. Keith was so nervous by now that he was starting to get really paranoid. Was Lance going to drop a rubber snake down his shirt like last year? Did he put duct tape over his locker then paint it normal again? Was he-

     Keith was cut off by a sharp blow from coach’s whistle. “Line up at the start!” he shouted.

     Keith jogged to the start and noticed Lance trying to subtly stand next to him. Keith let him but gave him a look of complete confusion. Lance simply smiled way too cheerfully back at him. Keith’s internal alarm was screaming at him that Lance was dangerous, but he had to ignore it for now. He stuck his leg out in a final stretch and lowered himself to starting position. He felt how tense he was and tried to relax a bit. The race was only a single lap, Lance couldn’t pull anything huge in that time. He took a deep breath and focused on waiting for the coach’s whistle.

     TWEET!!

     Keith flew from the starting line and instantly felt better. The wind from his speed smacked him in the face with a huge adrenaline rush and he smiled. He gave a silent cheer for himself as he tore down the track. He loved the feeling of his legs burning as he forced them to the limit. Running was one of the best feelings in the world to Keith. Here he was free. Here there were no stops, no responsibilities, no annoying Lance, no painful memories. There was only wind, adrenaline, and the sweet burn in his muscles. Just him and the track.

     Once Keith was nearing the last curve, he stared at his goal. He noticed that Sarah and Joe had already crossed the finish line and were kissing happily. Keith locked his eyes on the white painted line that marked his final achievement of the day. He was about to run even faster when he noticed that Lance was catching up and almost right next to him. Keith turned his head towards him expecting a competitive, determined look back, but instead Keith had anything and everything he thought he knew in life utterly  _ shattered _ when Lance smiled and  _ winked. _ He fucking  _ winked  _ at  _ Keith!  _ Keith was so startled that he slowed down a little. Lance took advantage of his fuck-up and sped ahead. Keith instantly recovered with an “Oh hell no!” and burst right past Lance and over the finish line with a speed that would’ve made light jealous. He slowed to a stop and whipped around to give Lance a proper “what the fuck was that?!” but the words stopped dead in his throat when he noticed his expression. Lance was smiling. Like something he was nervous but excited about had been confirmed. He was so confused he couldn’t stop himself. 

     “What the fuck is with you today?! Is this your prank? To make me crazy? Well,  _ you’re _ crazy if you think that’s going to work! Hey!” He got right in Lance’s visibly  shocked silent face. “Say something asshole!” Keith grabbed Lance’s shirt and yanked him down and was about to punch that idiot before there was a sharp, piercing high-pitched sound right in his left ear. He released Lance and clamped his hand over his ear, whipping around to find the source of the horrible screech. The coach backed away from Keith and dropped the whistle back around his neck. 

     “Mr. Kogane! What do you think you’re doing?” he yelled. Keith faced the coach, a vicious remark right on his tongue, but he paused. The  _ entire  _ track team was staring at him. Even Sarah and Joe had stopped making out for once and were looking at him with enormous eyes. They were staring at him like he was a wild animal. Keith shifted a step to the side and the eyes followed. He started to feel trapped, like a lone dolphin in a crowd of orca whales. His breath and heart rate sped up dramatically, and he wanted to run, to escape. He bolted, heading straight for the locker room, but he was yanked backward by a strong hand gripping the back of his shirt. 

     “Alright, I see how this is. A week of gum-scraping for this little stunt, Kogane!” the coach yelled. 

     “Fine!” Keith shouted. He wrenched his shirt from the coach’s grasp and flew from the track, cursing in anger and if Lance wasn’t mistaken, a little bit of fear. 

     Lance watched Keith go, unable to wipe the look of shock and confusion from his face. In all the years he’d known Keith, he had never lashed out so  _ angrily.  _ Sure, he had witnessed many of Keith’s meltdowns, but they had always had at least some air of “I do not give a single shit” to them. Lance was used to Keith flipping off teachers when asked for a hall pass, or writing “the fuck is this?” on the whiteboard when he didn’t know the answer to the equation. Lance certainly didn’t expect Keith to pull his head down until their faces were inches apart. Lance looked back on the incident and realized with a blush, that Keith had been blushing just now! He knew it was a blush because Keith never went red when he ran or got angry. Come to think of it, Keith had been blushing during the rosebush incident too! Lance started blushing, wondering why Keith had been blushing.

     “You alright, McClain? You look a little red.” coach asked. Lance snapped out of his daze and blushed a little more.

     “Oh, I’m fine.” said Lance. Coach didn’t look like he believed it. 

     “Okay then.” He turned to the team. “Alright team, go change and get some water. See you next practice.” The team broke apart and headed toward the locker rooms. While Lance was walking he saw the coach handing a gum scraper to a pissed-off looking Keith, telling him to start with the gym. Keith didn’t even change out of his track uniform, he just grabbed the scraper and stormed to the gym. “Now’s my chance” Lance thought as he changed his clothes as fast as he could. He felt his conscience nagging at him in Pidge and Hunk’s voices as he stared at the case of water bottles, telling him not to do it. He decided that if he brought Keith a water it would make him feel better, and also less suspicious. He picked up two bottles and walked toward the gym. 

     Once Lance entered and saw Keith, he wondered again if he should do this. Keith had been so mad at him on the track that he wasn’t sure whether or not Keith would simply beat the shit out of him if he pranked him right now. Then again, Lance thought, Keith was only mad because Lance  _ hadn’t  _ pranked him. He smirked. Following that logic, this’ll make him feel  _ better. _ He walked up to Keith. “Hey man.”

     “What the fuck do you want?” was Keith’s response. He was kneeling down and poking the hell out of a small, dirt-blackened, concrete blob of bubblemint stuck to the floor with his scraper. Lance held out one of the bottles.

     “You weren’t able to get water after practice. I thought you’d want some.”

     Keith stood up and eyed him warily. “You’re being nice. This is weird. Is this your prank?” he asked accusingly.

     Lance rolled his eyes. “Dude, I just thought you’d want to cool off.” Keith took the bottle but kept his eyes squinted at Lance.

     “You put onion juice in the water, didn’t you?”

     Lance rolled his eyes again. “I haven’t even opened it.” Keith twisted the cap and found that Lance was telling the truth. He looked at Lance, looked at the bottle, looked at Lance, looked at the bottle again, then shrugged and took a sip. When he couldn’t find anything wrong with it, he realized how immensely thirsty he was. He tilted his head back and chugged the entire thing, tossing the empty bottle beside him. Keith realized that Lance just did something pure and kind for him. He turned to Lance, who was smiling.

     “Thanks Lance.” 

     “No problem.” said Lance, uncapping his own bottle. Lance grinned as Keith smiled and turned away to pick up the gum scraper. “PRANK DAY!!!” he shouted as he dumped the entire bottle of water onto Keith’s stupid mullet. Lance laughed as his rival coughed and sputtered. “Oh, come on, Keithy-cat, you’re fi-” he stuttered to a stop when he noticed Keith’s legs. They were  _ red.  _ Keith was  _ bleeding.  _ Holy shit, Keith was bleeding! “Oh fuck, Keith!” Lance yelped as Keith coughed and fell. His legs were practically fused together now, they were so bloody. His track shorts ripped from the fall. “Oh shit, I killed him! Oh fuck oh fuck oh fuck!!” he repeated in his mind as he knelt over the fallen Keith. He was about to full-on panic  when he noticed something. He wasn’t kneeling in any blood, just water. Keith groaned as Lance leaned closer to his legs. That wasn’t blood. Those-...those were  _ scales.  _ But what… Lance’s eyes followed the now one leg down to where his feet were. “Or where they should be!!” Lance thought frantically. He screamed and lurched from the sight that confirmed his suspicions. The umbrella finally made sense. Keith-...Keith had a… Keith  _ was  _ a…

     “Lance you fucking idiot!!” the pissed-off, red-tailed, Keith-faced  _ merman  _ shouted.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey y'all. I am indescribably lucky that I, nor any of my close friends or family, lost their house. I was about twenty feet from the edge of the tubbs fire, we did get some of our roof burnt off, and the destruction around my house is heart-wrenching. I think the final numbers for the seventeen(that's fucked up) fires were 75,000 evacuated/homeless, 44 dead, 8,000 structures burned, and 253 square miles burned. A few mountains are black now so we might get mudslides in the winter, my dad said. We ended up being evacuated three times from three different places, the damn things kept moving. The severity of what happened was devastating, but I am still in awe of how helpful and loving my entire city became. People giving food to random strangers, a lady my family never met let us stay in her house for a week, cars stopping bicyclists and giving them masks, it all restored my faith in humanity. If this experience has taught me anything it's that anyone and everyone we love is the most precious thing on earth. In fact, the minute you are done reading this I want you to call, text, email, two cups and a fucking string I don't care I want you to tell someone you love that you love them. It means the world. Every life, every form of love on this planet is the most beautiful and valuable thing in the universe.


	5. stuck in the closet

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Keith is a merman and Lance is not okay.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Homework and writer's block people. Homework and writer's block. It happens to the best of us. Well, that and fire recovery. Anyhoo, HOLY FUCKING SHIT 1233 VIEWS AND 100 KUDOS!!!!! I swear I'ma fucking cry, I love you guys so much! Thanks to each and every one of you!

“Lance?”

.

.

.

“Lance.”

.

.

.

“Lance!”

Lance’s brain snapped back into function. He stared at Keith, still on the floor, still with a tail. Keith was a merman! Merpeople exist! Keith looked cute in red!

“Hey! You in there dipshit?” asked Keith. Somehow, Lance’s unfocused blue eyes met Keith’s extremely pissed violet ones, and he was able to speak again.

“Wha-...You’re-... You’re a _merman?!”_ Lance managed to choke out.

Keith rolled his eyes in annoyance. “Yeah, no shit, Sherlock!” Then he tilted his head with a thoughtful frown. “Well, actually half.”

“Half what?” asked Lance, brain still half melted.

“Half merman, genius.”

Lance’s brain exploded again. So, not only did merpeople exist, but they could have kids with humans? What the fuck?

“What the fu-”

“Kogane! It’s time to move to the classrooms!” said a voice. Both boys turned their heads to the gym entrance so fast they almost broke their necks. Even though they were all the way across the gym, they could clearly see the door handle starting to turn.

Keith swung an arm and smacked Lance’s calf. “Hide me! Quick!” he whisper-yelled, fear growing in his voice.

Though his brain was still a short-circuiting pile of mush, Lance was able to wrap an arm around Keith’s waist, the other around where his knees used to be, and lift him up. The sensation of the hard,smooth scales on Lance’s arm was so strange and foreign that his arm slipped and he almost dropped him. Keith jolted and threw his arms around Lance’s neck.

“Don’t drop me, idiot!” he hissed.

“Well, you’re fucking heavy!” Lance hissed back. He really was, that tail must’ve weighed a thousand pounds. He tightened his grip on Keith, and and Lance swore he could see little patches of red blossoming on Keith’s cheeks. Lance blushed, the realization that he was princess-carrying his arch-nemesis hitting him like a truck. He was about to make a joke, possibly fish-related just to relieve the air, when the gym door clicked open.

“Keith? Are you in here?” said the coach. He was walking straight for them. Any blush the two boys _might’ve_ had immediately paled whiter than a sack of flour, and Keith looked _terrified._

“Hurry! The janitor’s closet! He yelped, too scared to even cuss.

Lance sprinted inside, flattening himself against the buckets and mops that littered the small space. He left the door open a teeny bit so they could watch the coach. Lance pushed back a little more, and his shoulder bumped a mop. It fell rags-first right onto Keith’s face. He gave a small shriek and flicked his tail, which smacked _Lance_ in the face! He dropped Keith by reflex and he crashed into the metal buckets below, making a deafening clatter like a murderous thunderstorm sealing their fates. Lance looked through the crack, petrified that they were caught. He was frozen still, waiting for the coach to fling open the closet door, see them, and start flipping shit. He waited, and waited.

It never happened.

After about a minute of terror, he opened his eyes cautiously and slowly poked his head out of the door, completely confused why the coach hadn’t caught them.

“He’s wearing fucking headphones!” he said at normal volume, relief cracking his voice. The coach had an enormous set of the things clamped around his ears, and he was staring in the opposite direction! And when Lance heard the unmistakable sound of Ariana Grande’s “Problem” leaking from the headphones, he had to bite his tongue to keep from laughing. Coach _clearly_ had no idea they were there.

“Oh, thank God!” Keith said, every inch of him relaxing. The soft thud of his thin, scarlet fin hitting the wall reminded Lance just who and what was tangled in the mops with him. Since they couldn’t leave yet anyway, and the crack in the door provided enough light, he took this time to study Keith.

His scales were bright red, which explained why Lance had thought Keith was bleeding to death. They had an almost pearly shimmer to them, too. Lance looked down the five-foot tail to Keith’s fin. It was thin and wavy, like someone made one of those paper children’s fans out of shiny red silk, but with soft curves instead of creases. Lance couldn’t see how the tail met Keith’s body, because he was still wearing his track shirt which was _soaked_ in water and cleaning fluid. Lance immediately felt guilty about the water bottle prank, no wonder why Keith avoided water. He felt like a huge dick for fucking with Keith like that, especially since Keith was already in a bad mood. He had to make it up to him.

“Is he gone yet?” asked Keith. Lance looked at him blankly, he had forgotten that they were trapped. He noticed that Keith had a small patch of scales on his left cheekbone, like someone put on a fuckton of cherry lipstick and then kissed him. Nah, he told himself, it looked more like a mickey mouse face made of rubies. Or a demented strawberry.

“Lance.”

He snapped his head up, blushing because he was staring. “Yeah?”

“Is he gone yet?”

“Oh, yeah let me check.” Lance said, and quickly shoved his face into the cold door, anything to hide his blazing face from Keith. He saw the coach sigh, pick up the gum scraper and walk out the door, Ariana’s sweet voice parting with him.

“Okay, he’s gone.” said Lance as he opened the door, breathing a sigh of relief.

Keith looked relieved too. “Good. I should be dry enough soon.”

“Dry enough for what?” asked Lance absent-mindedly, he was still studying Keith. He had a large diamond-shaped patch of scales on of each of his biceps, and a triangle patch on the back of each wrist. Lance’s mind was still shattered over Keith being half merman, but it shattered again over the fact that Keith was a _hot_ half merman.

“Dry enough to change back, stupid.” Keith huffed. Wait, change back? Lance’s face flushed with color.

“But-..But you’re not wearing any pants!” he yelped, but as the words left his mouth Keith’s tail paled instantly to a soft cream-colored complexion from the thighs down. Lance watched in amazement as the tail split apart into two legs, and the brilliant scales around his thighs detached from Keith’s skin and morphed into a simple pair of red swim trunks with small conch and scallop shells embroidered around the leg holes. Keith stood up and walked swiftly out of the janitor’s closet. Lance closed the door and turned around to watch Keith.He jogged over to his ripped track shorts and shoes, picked them up, and paused. Then, before Lance could even blink, Keith had sprinted toward him, slammed his back against the door and held him there, arms quivering.

“If you ever tell anyone about me, I will fucking murder you!” he shouted. And although every inch of his face was screaming bloody murder, Lance wasn’t stupid. He could see the immeasurable fear in Keith’s eyes, and how petrified he was.

“Okay, I won’t.” he promised. Keith pushed him one more time, then ran away as fast as he could. He knew he shouldn’t have, knew Lance needed an explanation, but he ran, fled, left once more, just like he always did.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> seriously, thank you all for your love and support. Since we are entering the holiday season, chapters should come about every three weeks. See you next time my lovelies! I'm gonna go rewatch season four and cry fucking buckets again! xoxo


	6. pain and paint

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Keith is scared, Lance is confused, Hunk is helping, and Pidge is done.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hello again! I just finished freaking out over 126 kudos! I can't think of anything else to say, so here's the chapter! Gimme that eventual gay shit!

Keith had never been this scared in his life. Lance, the person who hated and bugged him to no end, knew his fucking secret! Keith couldn’t believe that the one second he let his guard down, Lance struck and poured that fucking water on him! Lance hated him so much, Keith wouldn’t be surprised if he hadn’t already ratted him out to every psycho, fish-killing, scale-plucking scientist in town. Keith felt so exposed and vulnerable that he put a hand on his thigh just to make sure his legs were still there, that his downpour of sweat hadn’t transformed them. He at least had some relief right now, Lance didn’t have chemistry class with him. Keith might accidentally reveal more secrets. He cursed himself again for ever trusting Lance, even for a second. Keith knew better than to trust. If you trust no one, no one can hurt you. He learned that lesson years ago! Keith rubbed at his temples, the stress of it all giving him a migrane.

“Keith? Need some ibuprophen?” asked Pidge sitting next to him. He shook his head, if he spoke now his voice would crack more than a glass sculpture in a cinderblock factory.

“Then quit your twitching and listen to Ms. Adam. She’s giving us assignments.” Keith whined, he didn’t need an assignment now, he was about to have a heart attack!

Pidge gave him a small whack on the shoulder. “Stop freaking out! It’s just a research report.”

Ms. Adam got to their table. “This is a partner assignment, so Pidge and Keith, do you two want to work together?”

“Sure Ms. A.” said Pidge as she took the paper Ms. Adam was holding out.

“It says here that person A needs to give a presentation on an unusual chemical reaction, and person B needs to draw and label its process.” she said, turning to Keith. “So, I write the presentation and you draw the diagrams?”

“Yeah, sure.” he said, barely listening. Lance knew his secret, Lance knew his secret, Lance knew-

“What is with you today? You’re acting like a bigger dork than usual.” Pidge asked. She saw the discomfort in his face and her expression turned from teasing to concerned. “Hey, are you okay?”

Keith looked at her, debating whether or not to lie to her. He really didn’t want another person to know what he was, but Pidge was too smart. She’d sniff out a lie in a second. He decided on a half truth.

“Lance found out something...embarrassing about me yesterday, and I’m worried that he’ll spread it everywhere.” he sort of admitted.

Pidge looked relieved. “Oh, that’s all? Don’t worry, he wouldn’t do that.” she reassured him, then turned back to her work.

“Really? He put my track shorts in the freezer.”

Pidge rolled her eyes. “Look, I know he can be a dick but he wouldn’t do that. He’s a good guy inside.”

Keith scoffed. “Yeah, right.”

Pidge sighed. “You know, you two’d be really good friends if you stopped pushing this ‘rivalry’ bullshit.”

Keith turned towards her defensively. “You think  _ I’m  _ pushing this? I just want that fucker to leave me alone!”

Pidge sighed again. “Whatever.” The final bell rang and they packed up their stuff and walked out. Pidge took a closer look at the paper’s directions. They were just complicated enough for an after school meet-up. She looked at Keith walking next to her. It was now or never.   

“Sooooo….Keefers.” she started. Keefers?! Was she fucking serious? Pidge mentally kicked herself. Subtlety was  _ not  _ her forté.

Keith was staring at her like she’d grown a second head. “Keefers?”

“Eh, whatever.” she shrugged it off and pretended to look back at the paper. “This is a lot of work, can we go to my house and work out a plan?”

“Sure.” said Keith, following her. He looked a little more relaxed, like he thought there was no chance of meeting Lance at Pidge’s house. Pidge laughed, poor thing. She knew damn well this was for their own good. She’d known them both for years, and they needed to make up since Lance didn’t know that Keith was planning to go to the same college. Otherwise they’d just keep making each other miserable. They’d both be so much happier, even as just friends. They walked up to her house and when Pidge tried to open the door, Rover and Matt came bursting out, her mom swatting them with a dish towel.

“Next time you track mud in here it’ll be your xbox!” she shouted, then turned to Pidge and Keith. “Come in you two, and  _ wipe your feet! _ ” she said pointedly at Matt, who was throwing sticks for Rover, who was barking happily. 

“Sorry Mom!” he called back, even though he was smiling. Ms. Holt rolled her eyes and let them inside. Pidge hugged her mom and led Keith upstairs to her room. Before she could shut her door, Rover wrestled his fat little body inside and pounced on Keith.

“Sorry.” she said as Keith fell on her bed with an “oof”. “You know how friendly he is.”

Keith gave him a reluctant pat. “Why does he like me so much anyway?” he said, turning his head to escape Rover’s kisses.

She shrugged. “I don’t know, he likes good people.” Keith felt his spirits fall. He wasn’t a good person; he’d kept secrets, abandoned ship, how could Rover think he was good?

As if he read his thoughts, Rover perked up, pointed ears and bull terrier face turned intently towards the door. He suddenly leapt off of Keith, back paws forcing him into the bed. He flew out Pidge’s door, barking loudly.

“Where’s he going?” Keith asked, sitting up.

Pidge shrugged again. “Matt probably shook his treat bag.” she sat on the bed and picked up the chemistry paper. The commotion downstairs only grew louder, and Keith thought he heard feet pounding up the stairs. 

“That can’t be Matt....” he started, but as soon as he said that, Pidge smiled and her door exploded open to reveal Lance in his full glory, carrying Rover like a furry gray baby, confidently shouting, “LET’S PLAY SOME MOTHERFUCKING MARIOKART!!!” 

*     *     *

**2 hours earlier**

Lance’s world no longer made sense. Keith was half fish. No wait, a quarter fish. Wait, how did mermaid genes work? Keith said that he was half merman, which are half fish, so did that make Keith half fish or quarter fish? Were merpeople half fish or half human? Did they actually exist or did Lance dream everything that happened yesterday? Did fish exist? Was his life a lie?! Lance rubbed his forehead, this fucking his mind worse that the fact that Keith even was part fish.

“Lance! Your paintbrush is dripping!” warned Hunk. Lance snapped his hand up, and accidentally flicked a spatter of bright red paint all over his canvas. Wait, red paint? He was working with blue! He looked at his paint-covered hand and realized that he just wiped that all over his face. He turned to Hunk.

“How much paint did I get on my face?” he asked.

Hunk looked at him with a smirk. “It looks like you got shot.” Lance groaned, this would  _ definitely _ mess up his skin care routine. He looked at his red hand again. He was so sure he’d been working with blue. He got a sinking suspicion why and looked at his canvas, only to be horrified at a big ass bug-eyed red fish with a mullet staring back at him.

“What in the fuck?” he started.

Hunk looked at his canvas. ‘Lance, what the hell? We’re painting still-lifes!” he said, pointing to a large vase holding a beautiful bouquet of roses and irises. The roses were particularly bright and firey, their color drowning the cool cerulean of the irises. Their flashing petals mocked him, almost winking as if they knew what a wreck he was. They looked just like the roses he’d jumped in a few weeks ago, and he looked away from them in embarrassment. Keith was torturing him and he wasn’t even here! He glared at his painting. Keith had also ruined a perfectly good canvas.

“And why did you paint a red mouse-looking thing?”

Lance turned towards Hunk, a dramatic hand clutching his chest. “That is  _ not  _ a  _ ‘red mouse-looking thing’ _ ! It is a piece of sheer  _ beauty!” _ He grabbed Hunk’s head and playfully shoved it forward until it was an inch from the paint, “Do you  _ not  _ see that this is my  _ ultimate masterpiece?!”  _

“Lance, all I can see is a red blur, and  _ you’re  _ about to see stars if you don’t let me go.” he warned.

Lance let them go. “Ah, you wouldn’t do that, you love me too much.” he said, batting his eyelashes and making kissy lips.

Hunk rolled his eyes but still smiled. “Again, why did you make that?”

Lance shrugged. “Eh, I was thinking about how I don’t like seafood, which led to the fish, then I thought about how I don’t like Keith, which led to the mullet.” What? He was the middle child, he had to be good at excuses.

Hunk looked closer at the image. “That’s a fish?”

Lance shoulder bumped him. “Shut up.”

“Alright class, bring your paintings to the back table to dry, and see you next week!” called Ms. Ross.

Lance sighed and picked up his mess of a painting. He passed Ms. Ross on his way to the back table, and she stopped him.

“Lance, I know this class is for creativity, but you do know that we were painting those flowers, right?” she said, looking politely confused and weirded out by his mullet fish.

“Yeah, I know, Ms. Ross, but I was just so fascinated by the symbolism in the ratio between the roses and irises.” he explained, thinking lightning fast to save his grade. He stepped next to her and gestured to the vase with a dramatic wave. “Even though there’s way more irises than there are roses, the roses are all you can see! It’s almost like their color is mocking the irises! They’re just as pretty as the roses, they don’t deserve to be put down like that! So I painted this the same color as the roses so they know what they did.” he proudly waved the painting in her face, hoping the flamboyance would convince her to believe him. She looked at his painting, then looked back at the bouquet with a thoughtful expression. 

“I suppose you’re right.”

“I know I am.” said Lance as he triumphantly put his painting down and admired it. It wasn’t too bad, now that he thought about it.He normally couldn‘t draw fish, but this one looked okay and it made Hunk laugh. Maybe Pidge would like it, he thought as he joined Hunk to leave. It was probably the weirdest picture he ever made, and he made some  _ weird  _ stuff when he wasn’t paying attention.

Hunk looked at the self-satisfied smirk on his face. “I swear, you could write a one-paragraph essay and convince the teacher to give you a freaking A.”

“Don’t be weird, Hunk, I can only do that with two paragraphs.” Lance smirked, because it was true.

Hunk rolled his eyes. “You mean you begged and cried until she changed your grade.”

Lance flicked his hand. “Potato, potato.”

“Yeah, right.” said Hunk. He followed Lance, who was starting to take the route to his own house. “Hey, Pidge is having a MarioKart tournament at her house, want to come?”

Lance spun around on his heels. “Are you kidding? I’m always a slut for MarioKart!” he yelled, then practically ran towards Pidge’s house. Hunk freaked out a little, Pidge had told them to arrive after her and Keith!

“Lance, wait! I hurt my leg a while ago, we have to walk slow.” Lance looked concerned and slowed down.Hunk felt grateful for that, Lance really was a good friend. He also knew that Lance could also be pretty mean without realizing it, which was his reason why he was making him make up with Keith. He’d known Lance ever since they were five, so he knew all of Lance’s insecurities. He knew that Lance didn’t  _ hate  _ Keith, he just felt like Keith was better than him. Hunk actually felt really bad that he’d let this continue for so long, he’d honestly thought Lance would realize himself by now. He also was doing this because he owed it to Keith, Keith had always been polite and kind to him, even if he was quiet. He didn’t deserve to be bullied by someone who could be a good friend. The boyfriend thing could come or not, Hunk wasn’t too picky. He just wanted them both to be happy. They were about a block away from Pidge’s house now, and Hunk saw a flash of Keith’s legs as he went inside, then Rover squeezing himself through the small opening. They walked into her yard and make small talk with Matt, who laughed when Lance told him about his fish painting. They went inside and heard a frantic scrambling sound coming down the stairs, then Lance made a small cheer of delight as Rover jumped into his arms. Ms. Holt poked her head out of the kitchen.

“Hello, you two, Katie’s upstairs.” she said, and Hunk got confused for a moment when he heard Pidge’s real name. He looked at Ms. Holt’s face and saw a mischievous gleam in her eye as she winked at him. She was definitely Pidge’s mother.

Lance, who had just finished giving Rover a belly rub, picked the heavy boy up and flung himself up the stairs. He wanted to bust the door open and surprise Pidge, since she’d probably be writing her fanfiction by now. He got to her already cracked open door, kicked it fully open, and shouted, “ LET’S PLAY SOME MOTHERFUCKING MARIOKART!!!” Pidge just smiled, nodding her head to her left. Lance looked and saw fucking _Keith_ sitting there and looking terrified! He was so startled that he dropped Rover. He landed on his feet and proceeded at to lick at Lance’s ankles. He heard Hunk step next to him.

Keith stood up, but still backed as far as he could into the bed. “What the fuck are you doing here?”

“What the fuck are _ you _ doing here?” he countered.

Keith narrowed his eyes. “I asked you first.”

“I asked you second.”

Suddenly, Pidge gave the tiniest of nods and Hunk grabbed his waist and shoved him into Pidge’s closet, ignoring Lance’s shout. Out of the corner of his eye he saw Pidge forcing Keith into the dark space beside him. Once they were both completely inside Pidge grabbed the door and closed it. Lance watched the small ray of light disappear the same way someone drowning watches the sun slowly darken until they don’t see it at all. He was falling, drowning, enveloped in the darkness that was not only the absence of light, but the blatant fear and terror coming from Keith, which was sucking any hope or happiness from the tiny room until Lance couldn’t breathe.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Rover is my favorite character. Hang in there Keithy boy!


	7. Cookies and crowns

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Keith, Lance, Hunk, Pidge, and Matt have a serious talk. Over cookies and milk, of course.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Helloo everyone and happy new year! I hope you had an amazing whatever the fuck you celebrate!  
> Holy FUCK this chapter was hard to write. I had to cram this bitch full of info while keeping it natural, it was a huge pain in the ass and I'm sure there's a few things I missed. Idk, I might rewrite this one, I might not. Lemme know what you guys think.

“We’re not letting you out until you two make up!” Pidge’s words along with the quick scrape of a chair being shoved underneath the doorknob rang in Keith’s panicked mind as he sat cemented to the closet wall. He hugged his knees and rested his head against them, refusing to accept that Lance was next to him and they  _ had  _ to talk. He was so scared of facing him, Lance was  _ surely  _ going to make him explain, it was all too much. At least this morning he could pretend that yesterday was a dream, that it never happened, but now it was truly real, and he had Lance’s big, surprised, concerned eyes glued to him to prove it.

Wait, concerned?

Keith opened his eyes a tiny bit and peered at Lance, even though all his senses were screaming at him to run, hide, never reveal a single thing. Lance looked actually, really, concerned for him. That just didn’t make sense.

Lance sat down on his knees and looked into Keith’s eyes. “Hey man, you okay?”

Keith let go of his knees and let his legs sprawl across the three foot floor. “Of course I’m not fucking okay! And why are you being nice to me? You hate me!”

Lance looked away for a second in- what was that? Embarrassment?  _ Shame?  _ “I just-.. I-...I was a dick yesterday, and I’m sorry.”

Keith tilted his head against the wall, he really didn’t want to talk about yesterday.

“You don’t have to worry, you know.” said Lance. “Your secret’s safe with me.”

Keith looked at him incredulously. “Really? You just found out that your ‘arch-nemesis’” he said with a flick of his hand, and Lance flinched. “Is a half fucking  _ merman _ and you’re not going to spread that shit everywhere like fireworks on the fourth of July?!”

“Keith, I-” Before Lance could finish the chair was blasted from the closet door which was flung open to show Pidge and Hunk with the biggest looks of surprise Keith had ever seen.

“You’re half fucking WHAT?!?!” Pidge yelled.

“You were listening?!” Lance asked.

Pidge immediately gave Lance an unimpressed look. “Lance, if you thought I wasn’t going to listen in then you clearly don’t know me.” She turned back to Keith. “Anyway, you’re half  _ what? _ ”

Keith groaned and thunked his head against the wall. Now  _ two more _ people knew. At this point he should just make a fucking billboard saying “come and get me, scientists!” “I’m a half merman.”

Hunk looked like his mind had just exploded, and Pidge looked skeptical. “Really?”

“When I poured the water bottle on him, his legs turned into a tail.” Lance explained, looking as done as Keith felt. He looked at Pidge, who still looked skeptical. He saw her slowly look at the glass of water on her nightstand.

“Don’t you dare-” Keith started, but before he could blink Pidge grabbed the glass and threw the water in his face. He scowled and crossed his arms as he felt himself change. At least he was sitting down this time so his pants wouldn’t get ripped. He stretched out his newly transformed scarlet tail, it was uncomfortable sitting in that closet. Pidge and Hunk were staring at him like they were seeing him for the first time, and Lance looked like he was trying not to stare. Wait, was he  _ blushing? _

Suddenly Matt walked in holding some papers. “Hey Pidge, here’s those notes you wan-” he stopped when he saw Keith. “What the fuck?”

“Oh, son of a bitch!” Keith cussed as he slammed his head into the wall. Make that  _ three _ more people.

Pidge sighed. “Sit down, Matt.”

Matt walked to Pidge’s bed and sat down, staring at Keith’s tail the whole way. 

Keith huffed. “So, Lance, what were you trying to say?”

Lance huffed too. “What I was  _ trying  _ to say, before we were so  _ rudely  _ interrupted,” he glared at Pidge and Hunk. Hunk looked ashamed, Pidge looked pleased with herself. “is that I didn’t tell anyone that you’re part fish. Though I doubt that makes much difference now.”

“You… You didn’t tell  _ anyone? _ ”

“Wait wait wait, hold on.” everyone looked at Matt, who pointed at Keith. “He’s part  _ merman?! _ ”

Pidge stuck an arm towards Keith and looked at Matt like she couldn’t believe he’d be this dumb. “Well no shit, Sherlock!”

Matt straightened his glasses then rubbed his temples. “Okay, this is too much. I need an explanation  _ now. _ ”

“Yeah, me too.” said Pidge.

“Same here.” said Hunk.

Keith looked at Lance, who shrugged. “I kind of want one. I mean, come to think of it, I barely know a thing about you.”

“Well,  _ duh _ . Hunk and I don’t say Keith’s nice just to fuck with you.” said Pidge.

Lance looked ashamed. “No, I mean I don’t even know basic things about you. Hell, I don’t even know how old you are.” Lance looked really surprised at this. “What the hell?”

Keith rolled his eyes. “I’m seventeen.”

“Cool. Me too.” said Lance. Pidge rolled her eyes. 

“Umm, are we just not gonna talk about the fact that Keith has a tail?” said Hunk.

Keith sighed. “Fine, fine. My mother was a mermaid. Her name was Amatheia. She met my dad, Eric, when he caught her in a fishing net.” Keith chuckled. “She was just about to catch some sunfish when she was yanked upward. She cussed him out for like an hour. My dad was so surprised to see her he flat out fainted. He woke up to a pissed, concerned mythological creature leaning over him. After he was done freaking out they became friends.”

“Wait, hold on.” said Pidge. She got up and went downstairs, leaving Hunk, Matt, Lance, and Keith to stew in awkward silence for three minutes that felt like hours. When she finally came back her arms were filled with a platter of chocolate chip cookies, a jug of milk, and five glasses. She plopped it all onto the bed and then started passing them out. “You never have storytime without cookies and milk, it’s bad luck.”

Keith took his cookies and glass of milk. “Are you serious?”

Pidge took a sip of milk. “Quite.”

Keith rolled his eyes and pulled his tail under him so he could sit comfortably. 

“How do you change your tail back?” asked Pidge.

Keith shrugged. “It usually changes back when I’m dried off.”

“Okay. Back to the story?”

Keith swallowed his bite of cookie and continued. “So, after two years of friendship they started dating. They later got married and had my brother, Shiro.”

“You have a  _ brother? _ ” said Lance. 

“Yeah.” said Keith. “He’s twenty-five.”

“How come we never met him?” asked Pidge. 

“We’ve known you for years.” added Matt.

Keith looked sadly at the ground. “It’s…It’s a long story.”

“Bitch that’s why I got the milk and cookies.”

Keith sighed dejectedly. “Okay, so, my mom had a twin sister named Honerva, and their dad was the king, they were princesses. The king died before I was born, but since my mom and my aunt were twins, they weren’t sure who was supposed to take the throne. Honerva became so power-hungry, she tried to poison my mom on their birthday. Luckily my dad, who could breathe underwater after mom kissed him, noticed and immediately told the guards. Honerva proudly confessed, declaring that my mother was unfit to rule because she had married a human  _ and _ bore his child. My mom, devastated, had to banish her, and she was forced to change her name. Names were sacred in Daibazal. They linked you with your family, granted you respect and honor. To have it be changed was one of the worst insults or punishments. She was no longer Princess Honerva, twin of Amatheia. She became Haggar the exiled. The citizens of Daibazal made my parents the king and queen after she was gone. I was born a year later.”

“Wait, so you’re a  _ prince  _ too?!” shouted Lance. He was  _ definitely  _ blushing. 

“This is some Disney shit right here.” said Matt.

Keith hung his head. “It’s not all a happy story.” he set down his cookies and hugged his arms. “As I grew up, I idolized Shiro. We used to do this little game sometimes where one of us would use octopus or colored squid ink to color our tail to look like the other when we were in the ocean. Even though he was eight years older, sometimes we looked like twins.” Keith smiled at the memory. “Anyway, when I was five, Shiro and I were playing twins. I dyed my tail black to look like Shiro, and we started playing hide-and-seek, which I was  _ really  _ good at. After he couldn’t find me for five minutes I started playing with some baby dolphins. Suddenly some lady swam up to me. It was weird. She looked a lot like my mom, but with white hair instead of black and silver scales instead of royal purple. The dolphins ran away when they saw her, but I was so curious about her that I didn’t move. She drifted toward me and said that she wanted to be my friend. I didn’t have many friends then, so I said okay. She kept calling me Shiro, and I was happy that my brother found someone to join in our game. She told me that she wanted to see my house, so I took her there. I told her all about myself on the way; how I was a prince, how my parents were the king and queen. I was about to tell her about Shiro and call _ him _ Keith when we got to the castle. I was confused, the lady didn’t want to go through the castle gates even when I told her that the guards were friendly. She somehow knew about the secret passageway that Shiro and I made for when we wanted to surprise mom and dad, and she wanted me to show her it. I took her to the back of the castle’s garden and to the hole under the coral bed. I swam right in and went to the above-water sunroom where my parents were, all happy and excited to introduce them to my new friend. The lady followed me in and suddenly her voice changed. When she first talked to me it was normal and honey-sweet. But this voice..” Keith shuddered. “I can still hear it. It was like the raspy whisper of a starved demon. All she said was ‘My dear sister Amatheia.’ before my mom screamed, grabbed my tail and  _ flung _ me out the window. Shiro was about to swim into the room before my dad jumped into the water and swam in front of him. I could only see them through a window, but I remember the weird purple crystal around Haggar’s neck glowing with power as she shot a beam of it toward my dad. He shoved Shiro out of another window, and then he was hit. He shuddered and screamed and then died right in front of us. My mom screamed and then shot into the water and hugged my dad while shouting his name. I still remember being confused, I thought dad was just sleeping.” 

Keith started tearing up, he hugged his tail and buried his face where his knees would be. “Haggar shot another beam at my mom, but she used some of her magic to deflect it. Mom’s entire body started glowing blue, and her eyes shone pure white. She concentrated all her power into a single beam which she threw at Haggar, who screamed and shot back one of her own. They crashed in the middle, and for a while it seemed like my mom had won. But then,” Keith sobbed. “Then Haggar  _ smiled  _ and her eyes glowed purple. Her beam grew until it blasted my mom in the chest. My mom screamed like she was being torn apart.” Keith was full on crying now. “Her power exploded everywhere, and Haggar screamed just like her. Both of their powers shot everywhere until the room was full of blinding light. When I could finally see again, Haggar was gone, and my mom and dad were laying dead in the water.” Keith wiped his eyes and coughed. He looked up at everyone. They all had tears falling down their faces just like him. 

Hunk gave a great big sob and fell to his knees off Pidge’s bed to give him a bear hug. “I’m so sorry!” Lance, Pidge, and Matt cried too and jumped into the hug. They all peppered him with “I’m so sorry”s and Keith couldn’t help but cling to them all awkwardly. After about three minutes of awkward sniffles and accidental elbows to the face, they all let go and wiped off their faces. 

Keith was still crying. “It’s my fault.” he sobbed. “I led her right to them.”

Pidge hugged him again. “Keith, you were only five. There was no way you could’ve known who that was.”

Keith choked. “It’s still my fault. I knew better than to take strangers home, I was the fucking  _ prince!  _ I wasn’t supposed to talk to  _ anyone  _ by myself.”

Lance put a hand on Keith’s back. “Look, Keith, almost  _ everyone  _ would’ve done the same thing. You didn’t do anything wrong.”

Keith sighed and laid his head against the wall. “Thanks guys. But it’s still my fault.” He picked up his milk, took a sip, and continued. “Anyway, about a week later, Shiro started training to be king. But, we were confused about something. See, the way we know who’s next in line for the throne is that this,” he pointed to the tiny patch of scales on his left cheekbone, “will appear on  _ both  _ sides of the ruler’s face around age six or seven. Both my mom and Haggar had them, but Shiro only had them on his right cheek. I was fine with this, I may have idolized Shiro, but I wanted  _ nothing  _ to do with being king. Hell, I couldn’t even get more than four kids to play ‘follow the leader’ with me. Not only that, but I was scared of it. Haggar only killed my parents because they were the king and queen. Being royalty was just  _ dangerous, _ so you can imagine my fear and anger when  _ this  _ appeared.” he gestured angrily to his cheek scales again. “I was already scared for Shiro, I just flipped out when it showed up in the middle of the night one day. I woke up and started throwing a fit, and Shiro wasn’t much help. He kept on telling me that everything was going to be fine and that this was my destiny, we’d rule together, but I wouldn’t listen. I kept on insisting that  _ he _ alone was meant to be king, destiny made a mistake, I didn’t want to be in charge. We fought about it for almost a year. He said that I was being silly, that mom and dad would want me to be king. I hated going to any training, but Shiro always forced me to go. I was training every single day; diplomacy lessons, learning to use weapons, strategy, local agriculture, ways to recognise enemies, proper protocol, I was only seven! I just wanted a  _ normal  _ life. It was finally too much when Shiro brought me my crown. I panicked the second I saw it. Shiro got mad and told me that I was being ridiculous, I needed to step up for our kingdom. We had a huge fight when I wouldn’t let him put it on me. I said that he never listened to me, and he said that he was sorry, but I had to do this. I just couldn’t take it anymore. That night, after Shiro was asleep, I grabbed the umbrella my mom gave me, the knife my dad gave me, and I ran away.”

“Where did you go?” asked Hunk.

Keith shrugged. “For a while I stayed in the ocean, just drifting around, avoiding the guards looking for me. It was nice until someone recognized me by my scales and tried to turn me in. I realized the ocean wasn’t safe, so I went on land and turned myself over to the foster system when I was nine.” Keith grimaced. “That sucked, I couldn’t stick to a family for more than a few years. Luckily my current foster parents don’t care what I do as long as I don’t end up in jail. As soon as I get the money, I’m going to get my own apartment.”

Keith sighed, stretched his tail out, and watched the ruby red scales pale to light skin and then separate back into his legs. He stood up, stretched, then sat back down. He played with the shell patterns on his swim trunks.

“Where did you get those?” asked Lance.

Keith smiled. “My mom also knew other magic. She enchanted my thigh scales to turn into these when I changed from merman to human. They just disappear when I take them off.”

Lance gasped. “Do  _ you  _ know magic?!”

Keith grinned. “Sometimes I can make stuff move.”

“Show me!” said Lance excitedly.

“Okay, calm down. I can’t do much, it might take a while.” Keith concentrated on the cookie closest to him on Pidge’s platter. He summoned every bit of strength in him to pull the cookie towards him. He stared at it for a full four minutes, but nothing happened. He was still concentrating when Lance chuckled.

“Okay, Keith, Nice joke. You really got m-” suddenly the cookie flew off the plate and pegged Lance right in the eye. “Ow!” he yelped. “What the fuck, Keith?”

Keith, Pidge, and Matt were howling with laughter, while Hunk was pretending not to. “Oh man, I wish I recorded that!” Matt giggled.

“A perfect bullseye!” Pidge laughed.

Lance rubbed his eye. “Yeah, yeah. Lap it up.” He picked up the cookie and bit into it. “That’s still really cool. What else can you do?”

Keith finished laughing. “I can also heal wounds a little bit. That only works when I’m in water, though, since it’s the merman half of me with the powers.”

“Oh! That reminds me. How much fish are you?” asked Lance.

Keith stared at him blankly. “Um...What?”

“I spent all freaking day wondering how much fish you were. I was thinking about it so much, I almost screwed my grade in art class!”

“Wait, is that why you painted that?” Hunk asked.

“Of course!”

“Wait, what did he make?” asked Pidge.

Matt snorted. “He was supposed to paint some flowers and he painted a giant red fish with a mullet.”

Pidge laughed then looked at Keith. “Yeah, I can believe that.”

Keith watched this all while being very confused. He turned to Lance. “You found out  _ I’m _ a half merman, and you worry about how much fish I am?”

Lance crossed his arms. “Don’t question my brilliant mind, Mullet.”

Keith stared at the ground, at a loss for words. “I guess I’m a quarter fish?”

“I fucking knew it.” Lance muttered under his breath.

Pidge rolled her eyes. “Have fun with your little victory there, Lance.”

“Oh, I will.”

Keith laughed, then rubbed his arms self-consciously. “You guys aren’t going to tell anyone about me, right?”

“‘Course not.” said Pidge.

“Never.” said Hunk.

“I’m offended you even asked.” said Matt.

Keith smiled at them, then looked at Lance.

“I don’t know why you’re looking at me, I already promised.” said Lance.

Keith looked confused. “When did you do that?”

“Uh, when you said you’d murder me if I told anyone?”

Keith looked down sheepishly. “I...forgot I said that.”

“Dude, you were  _ really  _ scared. I wouldn’t remember it either, and I would never tell a secret like that.”

“Thanks Lance.” Keith smiled at him and when Lance smiled back, he felt a burning question he just had to ask. “Why do you hate me?”

Lance was thrown off by the question. “Huh?” 

“Why do you hate me? For years you’ve been ranting about how much you hate me, how we have this ‘epic rivalry’, which, by the way, I don’t do anything to you about, and how  _ I  _ somehow started it. Then you turn around and you’re actually a nice guy! If you don’t like me, that’s fine! I’ll leave you alone! But, you keep attacking me. And, just,  _ why?” _

Lance looked at him. “You… you don’t one-up me on purpose?”

“What are you talking about?”

Lance looked at the ground. “You  _ always _ finish ahead of me. You always get one more point on tests, one percent more on your grades, one second less on your running times, one more compliment from the teachers,  _ one more  _ person to notice you. It just got so  _ infuriating.  _ I just wanted to see you fuck up just  _ once.  _ So, I did everything in my power to fuck with you. I know that’s petty, I’m not proud of it. But everyone always compared me to you. It was  _ constant.  _ Lance, why don’t you work as hard as Keith, McClain, why don’t you run faster like Keith, Lance, why don’t you study like Keith? No one noticed  _ me,  _ and I got so  _ sick  _ of it! You kept making an idiot out of me!” he ranted.

“Lance, it’s not like I’m  _ trying  _ to do any of that!” said Keith. “I’m sorry if you feel that way, but I’m just trying to finish school so I can get a decent job and buy a shack in the desert or some shit. From my point of view, you just acted like an ass from the first time I met you and said  _ I  _ started it.”

Lance gave an annoyed grunt and crossed his arms. “For the record,  _ you _ started it when you bumped into me freshman year. It took me so long to pick up my stuff in that crowded ass hallway that I was late to my first class of high school! Do you know how embarrassing that was?” he explained.

“Lance, I said sorry, you probably just didn’t hear me.” said Keith.

“Yeah, right. I have  _ excellent  _ hearing, you didn’t say sorry  _ or _ stop to help me pick up my things.” Lance grumbled.

“I only didn’t stop because I was almost late for my class all the way across the school. When I saw you in second period I was going to apologize, but before I could even open my mouth you started making fun of me.” said Keith

“I was pissed!”

“Well, so was I, so I swallowed my apology and tried to ignore you.”

“Well I don’t like to be ignored, that’s why I kept making fun of you.”

“And I don’t like to be made fun of, that’s why I ignored you.”

“Oh my fucking god, your rivalry started over  _ that?” _ Matt interrupted.

Lance and Keith both looked at the carpet in embarrassment. “Yes?” they both said sheepishly.

“Told you you were both morons.” said Pidge. “Welp, it’s clear. Neither of you like being put down by the other, whether it was intentional or not, correct?”

“Yeah” they agreed.

Pidge clapped her hands together and pointed them at Keith. “So. Keith, you need to apologize for bumping into Lance. And Lance, you need to apologize for acting like a dick. Now.”

Keith groaned and hit his head against the wall. “This is so stupid. Lance, I’m sorry for bumping into you.” he said, rolling his eyes.

“Say it like you mean it.” Pidge teased. 

Keith glared at her, then looked Lance in the eyes. “Lance, I’m sorry for bumping into you and not helping you.” he repeated sincerely.

Lance smiled. “I forgive you.”

“Now your turn, Lance.” Pidge was enjoying this too much.

Lance looked down in shame, then looked Keith in the eyes. “Keith, I’m sorry for being a dick.” he apologized.

Keith smiled. “I forgive you as long as you don’t duct tape my locker again.” he said.

“Fine, I won’t.” said Lance, who then added under his breath, “much.” he clapped his hands together. “There. We’re all shits and giggles now, right?”

Keith gave him a weird look. “I don’t think you’re using that phrase correctly.”

“Ah, fuck it.”

“Group hug!” shouted Matt. He and Hunk somehow got all five teens in an awkward, mushy blob again, uncaring of Pidge and Keith’s protests. But as Keith saw all of their happy, smushed smiles directed at him, he couldn’t help but hug all his new friends back.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> *squees* I love these babies so much! See you guys next time!


	8. Karts and Hearts

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Lance gets his Mario Kart and Keith makes a promise.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I am soooooooooo sorry this is so late! Also I did some major edits to last chapter, you might wanna go catch up.  
> My life has gone completely insane, I am so overloaded with responsibilities irl now I barely have time to brush my hair, let alone do stuff I like. I'm also going through some really painful stuff rn, but I'm on the path to getting better? anyhoo,  
> Life update: incoherent sobbing  
> VLD S5 update: incoherent squealing  
> #17 update: I now have a plot, I know wtf I'm doing! Yay!  
> Me being me update: OMFG GO SEE THE GREATEST SHOWMAN

Eventually everyone let go and the group hug dispersed, but everyone’s smiles stayed nice and bright. Lance stretched and then plopped onto a beanbag chair in Pidge’s reading corner of the room. He winced when the corner of a thick, hardcover textbook the same lime green as the chair jammed into his back. He picked it up and tossed it onto a pillow beside him.

“Hey! Don’t throw my books, dipshit!” Pidge scolded.

Lance rolled his eyes. “Dude, relax. I threw it onto a pillow.” he gave her a strange look. “Besides, I’ve seen you chuck like four or five straight out the window!”

“Only when they piss me off.” she explained, then glared at her practically annihilated copy of Rick Riordan’s _The Mark of Athena,_ which was sitting innocently on her shelf among the rest of its series. “You know what you did.” she grumbled.

Lance rolled his eyes again. “Anyways, I was promised Mario Kart?”

“I’ve never played.” said Keith. Immediately you could hear the snaps of four heads flicking towards him in surprise. This was even bigger than finding out he was a half merman!

“You’ve _never_ played?” asked Hunk.

Keith shrugged and shook his head. “I obviously couldn’t play it underwater, and none of the foster homes had it.” he said. “It wasn’t a big deal.”

 _“Not a big deal?!”_ everyone but Keith shrieked. This was an insult of the highest order.

Lance got up and crossed his arms. “That’s it. Get over here and sit the fuck down, fish boy. We’re playing this and you’re going to _love_ it.”

Keith got up and sat on Pidge’s bed, facing her TV. He shrugged, more surprised at everyone’s reaction than anything else. “Okay, I guess.”

Lance nodded confidently, then put his hand on his hip. “Good. Pidge, you set up the game.” he commanded. Pidge gave her friend a mock salute before digging through her game drawer. Keith still looked unsure, which was unacceptable. Lance took the controller that Pidge offered him then flopped next to Keith. Pidge handed the other three to Keith, Matt, and Hunk, and then sat on the other side of Keith.

“You’re not going to play, Pidge?” asked Matt.

“Nah, I’ll play next round.” she smirked. “Besides, someone’s gotta teach Keefers here how to kick your asses.”

Keith smiled at her awkwardly, and Lance met her gaze competitively. “Challenge accepted.” He turned to the screen. “Alright, we’re playing Double Dash, so pick two characters, Keith.”

Keith just wanted to get this over with, so he quickly picked the first two characters he saw.

“Mario and Peach?” Lance snorted. “I knew you were basic, but holy shit.”

Keith rolled his eyes. “Well who are you picking, hot shot?”

Lance smirked. “Only the greatest duo in the world! You don’t know?” When he was met with four blank stares, he scoffed. “Ugh, Daisy and Baby Luigi, of course!”

“I think the fuck not!” interjected Matt. “Red Koopa and Baby Bowser are the best!”

“Blasphemy!” screeched Lance. “I _will_ fight you on this!”

“Bring it on, twatwaffle!” Matt taunted.

“It is so weird to see Lance fighting with someone else.” Keith whispered to Pidge as Hunk pulled Matt and Lance apart and stood between them with his arms outstretched.

Pidge reached under her bed and pulled out a bag of potato chips, then ripped it open. “I know, isn’t it hilarious?” she said, offering some to Keith. He silently agreed and took a few. Matt and Lance were now flapping their hands uselessly at each other over Hunk’s head. After they flapped long enough for Pidge to show Keith how to play, she got up and gave them both a sharp jab to the sides.

“Enough, you two! Let’s start the game!” she said. Matt and Lance sat down, but flipped each other off behind Pidge’s back. Hunk picked his characters randomly, and ended up with Waluigi and Bowser.

“Okay, let’s play on Baby Park since this is Keith’s first time.” Pidge, Hunk, and Matt groaned, and Keith looked ready to fight. “Come on guys, we have to give the noob a fair chance.” he said teasingly. After a chorus of “fines” and “ughs” hit his ears, Lance hit the button to start. He got more and more excited as he watched the countdown slowly decrease. Finally, a chance to beat Keith, fair and square. What better way to blow off steam than fucking murdering him in a fictional, not-at-all-real video game? The countdown reached zero and the bell screeched in his ears as he forced his kart from the track. He saw Keith’s cliché ass kart inches from his as they hit the first row of boxes. Keith got a red shell, Lance getting a green shell and a mimic box. Lance threw the box behind him, leaving it to be seen later.

Matt and Hunk were well behind the other two, not caring too much about this race since it was just to show Keith the ropes. Besides, it was Baby Park. Lame. They mostly just kept ramming each other and throwing things at the other two overly competitive twelve-year-olds.

Lance and Keith stayed neck and neck for a while, switching between who was in first, until the sixth lap. Lance looked at his new item in awe of its of its amazingness. He watched the baby Luigi on his kart, holding the item ready to throw it. He waited, and waited….Finally!

“Eat this, Mullet!” he shouted as he flung the biggest dick move item in Mario Kart straight in front of him. He looked at Keith’s face to see the devastation he had caused, but was completely confused when he saw Keith laugh and then point at the screen. Lance looked back just in time to see his blue shell turn right back around and smash his own kart, completely ignoring Keith’s kart waiting patiently next to the barrier. Lance squawked in betrayal as Keith zoomed way the fuck ahead of Lance. Lance smashed the A button on his controller, waiting for his kart to start moving again, but Lance was left in the dust. He couldn’t catch up in time; stupid heart power-up. Where the fuck was his chomp-chomp?

Keith crossed the finish line and Lance came in not three seconds later. But that didn’t matter. He couldn’t believe that not only did he not get to pulverize Keith, but Keith was only a _noob_ and still beat _him_. His brain went into overtime; half pissed and vengeful, the other _really fucking impressed._ All his friends and even his honorary acquaintance laughing their asses off didn’t help either.

“Oh my gods!” Pidge cackled. “Lance, you just lost to the fucking noob!!” Lance stuck his tongue out at her. How mature.

“Oh, fuck you.” he said in a challenging tone. “You think you could’ve done better? Keith was like lightning!” If Lance was only slightly less riled up he might’ve noticed the slight red tinge that colored Keith’s cheeks when he said that. Unfortunately, he was too busy raising his eyebrow and staring at Pidge as her laughter calmed.

“I _know_ I can, fucknut. Someone give me a controller, I’ll beat Keith’s _and_ Lance’s ass. Matt stood and tossed his controller to her.

“I’ve got some Econ homework anyway. See you, sluts.” he said eloquently before waltzing out of the room. Insults were a form of endearment in this group.

The group waved him off and Pidge exited to the character selection screen to choose her own characters. Lance and Keith chose the same ones again while Pidge took the red Koopa and Yoshi. “I’m choosing the course.” she declared before picking through to one of Lance’s least favorite tracks.

Fucking Luigi circuit.

Lance groaned. “Pidge, come on!”. Pidge just smiled back at him. “You’re the reason I cry myself to sleep at night, I hope you know.” Lance grumbled as he got ready to start.

“Yes, and I take great pride in my work.” Pidge hummed happily. Keith raised an eyebrow at the two of them, obviously not used to the constant insults being thrown around as casually as that. He didn’t comment on it though.

  1. 2\. 1. Go!



Pidge boosted right away and was far ahead of the other three from the beginning. Keith was catching up to her fast. Hunk was a good ways away, but still in third by the end of the race.

Which left Lance in last fucking place. Stupid chomp chomps, always getting in his way. This was just uncalled for. He crossed the finish line well behind the others.

He glanced over at Keith, who was smirking. The black haired boy nudged Lance with his elbow. “I thought you were good at this, Lance.” he teased.

“Okay, first of all, Luigi circuit is literally the worst track ever, so fuck you. Second of all, I _am_ good and I’ll prove it to you.” Lance grinned evilly. “Pidge, put on Rainbow Road.” Hunk smiled excitedly, but it was Pidge’s turn to groan.

“Ugh, fine.” she muttered, finding the track.

“So you’re good at Rainbow Road, I take it?” Keith was still looking at Lance but glanced away when he realized he’d been practically staring.

“I am the motherfucking queen at Rainbow Road.” Lance said proudly. “I’m only second to Hunk, but I’ll beat him one of these days.” he turned to grin at Hunk.

Hunk said, “I’d like to see you try” just as Keith said “Doubt that.” Damn. Double betrayal. Lance put a hand to his heart, feigning shock and hurt.

“This is _unforgivable!”_ Lance whined. He pivoted on his hips and flopped across Keith, Hunk, and Pidge’s laps. “Betrayed by my best friend and my new friend at the same time! How will we ever move forward?” The other three laughed, and Lance eventually joined in. Keith had a nice laugh.

Pidge was the first to push Lance up. “Okay, I’m starting the track now. Get ready, losers. The other teens straightened and Pidge pressed start.

Lance and Hunk were doing well, but the others…. Not so much. Pidge kept getting mushrooms or green shells, which were more or less useless on this particular track. Keith, on the other hand, kept trying to do the drift bonus on the numerous twists and turns on the track and either holding too long or not long enough, ultimately sending him flying off the track every time. Lance would’ve found it hilarious if he’d been paying attention.

They were on the last leg of the second lap, nearing the end of the race. The first place banner switched between Lance and Hunk. Lance got more and more excited as his kart got closer to Hunk’s. He could do this. He could do this.

“Lance, you’re my best friend and you know I love you, right?” Hunk asked.

“Hell yeah, big guy.” Lance answered, his adrenaline charge growing by the second.

“So you’ll forgive me for this?”

“Wait wha-” Lance stuttered as Hunk swerved his kart into Lance’s and sent him careening of the track just in time for Hunk’s kart to zoom across the multicolored finish line. Lance couldn’t even be mad, he was used to it. He pulled into second place with a swift dab, earning a chorused “What the fuck Lance” from Keith and Pidge. They still applauded Lance and Hunk, they knew surviving Rainbow Road was a feat worth praise.

The four of them continued to play Mario Kart for the next three hours. Pidge had won three games, Hunk four, Keith three, and Lance had just won his fourth when Pidge’s mom poked her head in the door. Rover squeezed through the small crack and pounced onto Keith, who scratched his ears.

“You kids should head home soon, it’s getting late.” She pointed to Pidge’s window and there was, in fact, a glowing full moon and a scatter of stars across the deep navy blue sky.

“When the fuck did that happen?” Pidge asked.

“Language, Katie!” Ms. Holt snapped. Pidge shut her mouth and her friends tried not to laugh, but they could all hear the giggling coming from Matt’s room. Ms. Holt momentarily poked her head back into the hallway to call, “Don’t make me come in there, young man!” The laughter abruptly ceased. She turned back to the room. “Anyway, boys, you should get going.”

“On it, Ms. Holt.” said Hunk as he picked up his backpack. Lance and Keith did the same, then they walked out of Pidge’s room. Pidge and Rover followed them into the hallway, and Matt yelled a goodbye through his wall, which the boys returned. When they got to the door, Pidge gave Lance, Hunk and Keith each a hug goodbye, holding onto Keith just a little harder. He ruffled her hair and Lance and Keith waved goodbye to the others one more time. They started on the road to their homes, Hunk going the opposite direction of Lance and Keith. Lance couldn’t wait to get home and pass the fuck out after a quick dinner, and he could bet Keith couldn’t wait to get home either.

But, that wasn’t really Keith’s home was it? Lance looked at the new stranger walking next to him. All this time he’d made fun of and ridiculed someone he barely knew! He thought he knew Keith. He knew he was determined, he was impulsive, he didn’t have a fucking _tail,_ he made Lance feel like shit, and he was a huge pain in the ass. But was he? Today’s events really had him thinking. Keith _had_ pointed out that he’d never done anything to him. At the time he was _bursting_ to call bullshit, but now he wasn’t so sure. Lance tried to recall a time when Keith had gone out of his way to embarrass him, but he couldn’t think of anything. He couldn’t even think of anything worse than backhanded comments, some of which he could admit he deserved. After thinking this over some more, it became horribly clear that he’d been hating Keith just for being better than him. Holy shit, he wasn’t that shallow, was he?! Was Lance really hating someone for being themselves?! Jesus, that went against everything Lance stood for! He looked again at Keith, who had his gaze fixed on the stars above, and Lance saw the red, tear-irritated skin around his eyes. He promised himself then and there that he would never judge or be mean to someone like that again. He had been horrible to Keith, whether he thought it was justified or not. No one deserved to be hated like that by a stranger. His apology earlier was more for Pidge’s amusement than anything, but now he really was sorry. He put his hand on Keith’s shoulder and stepped next to him.

“Hey. I’m sorry for hating you.” he said.

Keith gave him a weak smile. “Like I said before, I really don’t care if you like me or not, but I forgive you.”

“Now that we know that Pidge and Hunk aren’t listening, do you want to talk?” Lance asked.

Keith shrugged. “There’s really nothing left.” he looked away, realization clouding his eyes. “I told you _everything.”_ he said quietly.

“Hey. That’s okay.” Lance reassured him. Keith looked into his eyes and Lance could see the fear in them. He was sure the realization of how much he said this afternoon was getting to him, so Lance snapped his fingers in front of his face.

“Hey! I know you’re scared, but you can trust us. We’ll _never_ tell your secret unless you want us to. I know how this must sound coming from me, but we care about you, Keith. They want to be your friends. _I_ want to be your friend. You’re safe with us. You’re safe with _me._ ” Keith stared helplessly back at him for a moment, then the next thing Lance knew, thin, strong arms were squeezing around his chest, a soft, dark mullet was pressed against his cheek, and Keith’s quiet, small breaths were tickling the back of his neck.

“Thank you.” he whispered, barely audible.

Something twitched in Lance’s chest as he rubbed Keith’s back. “You’re welcome, buddy.” Keith squeezed him one more time, then let go and they resumed walking, but Lance had one more thing on his mind. “You really miss your brother, don’t you?”

Keith gave a deflated sigh and stared at his feet skimming the cracked, worn pavement. “Yeah, I do.”

“Then what’s stopping you from seeing him?”

Keith looked at him like he was crazy. “Because I can’t rule Daibazal with him, and my aunt who may or may not be alive will stop at nothing to kill me?”

“Who cares if you can rule? I’m sure Shiro really misses you. You’ve been gone for what, ten years? And like you said, you have people who want to kill you, he probably thinks you’re dead.” Lance thought about his little brother, Andrés, and how scared and worried Lance got if they just lost him in the grocery store. He couldn’t imagine losing his goofy little grin and sparky personality for _ten years._  Sure, it was weird trying to imagine Keith as a seven-year-old, but Lance would bet his favorite drawing pencil that Keith had been just as cute as his little bro. Of course Lance felt bad for Keith, how could he not? But he also thought that it was unfair for Shiro to lose the last bit of his family like that. “Like you said, _he_ wanted you to rule, and you ran away. He’s probably been blaming himself this whole time.”

Keith stared sorrowfully at his legs. “He would, too.” he paused. “But it’s been so long. What if I go back and he hates me? I did abandon my crown! Or worse, he’ll try to get me to rule the kingdom! I can’t do that, Lance! I can’t handle it!”

“Keith.” Lance grabbed Keith’s shoulders and looked him in the eye. “He’s your brother. He doesn’t hate you.”

“But he mi-”

“No.”

“I can’t go ba-”

“Yes you can.” Lance continued. “Keith, there’s no way he hates you, and I seriously doubt he’ll make you rule Daibazal with him the second you get down there. As for all your death threats, if Haggar couldn’t kill you when you were a shrimpy little five-to-nine-year-old, I bet she can’t kill you now, when you’re seventeen.”

Keith pouted. “You know ‘shrimpy’ is a compliment, right? Those little dudes are like dancing Martha Stewarts.”

“Wait what?” Lance looked at him in confusion then shook his head. “Cool, not the point, talk about it later. Keith, you should go back. You don’t need to live your whole life alone.”

Keith could feel himself running out of excuses, so he went on the offensive. “What do you care, anyway?”

“I said I was gonna be your friend, didn’t I?”

“As a matter of fact, you did not.”

Lance rolled his eyes. “Well, whatever. I’m gonna be your friend, you’re in pain, and I don’t like my friends to be in pain.”

Keith didn’t know how to respond. In all his life he’d never met someone so _aggressively_ friendly, and he never expected it to be _Lance._ He was so surprised he nearly walked right past his front door. “Oh, um...Thanks. This is my stop.” He nodded his head toward the far too happy and fake looking house that he was staying in. The Smiths may not have had emotional attachment to Keith, but they still wanted him to be comfortable during his stay. They fixed the house up really prettily, but it just felt too _polished_ to Keith, like a thoroughly groomed show poodle rather than a floppy and cuddly bulldog. He missed his bulldog home with his bulldog family.

He took a step toward the door when Lance grabbed his wrist. “Keith, you haven’t said you’ll go back.”

Keith sighed. “Lance, I just ca-”

“Do you need us to go with you?”

Keith choked. “I- what?”

“Do you need us to go with you?” Lance repeated. “All of us. Matt, Hunk, Pidge, and me. I’m 100% sure they’ll want to support you. Pidge’s family has scuba gear, I’m sure their dad’s suit would fit me. Finding one for Hunk might be a problem, but we’ll come up with some-”

Keith scoffed and flicked his hand. “I can just make magic seaweed. But are you serious?”

Lance nodded. “Deadly.” he took Keith’s wrist again. “Keith, if we all come with you, will you go back?”

Keith thought about it, he really did. If he had the others with him he would feel better. But he could also be leading them into a death trap if Haggar was still out there. He wasn’t sure they would take the risk, or if he wanted them to. But Lance had a point, if Haggar was still alive she would’ve killed him when he was alone all those years ago. Ugh. He was too tired to think rationally right now, he’d figure it out in the morning. “I’ll think about it.” he replied, sincerely.

Lance nodded. “Alright. Goodnight, Keith.” he said as he resumed walking.

“Goodnight, Lance.” Keith called back as he entered the house. Mr. Smith was seated on the pristine leather couch, reading the newspaper and drinking coffee. Why he was doing this at 9:45 at night, Keith had no idea.

“How was your day, Kevin?” he asked absently.

“My name is Keith.” Keith replied. “And fine” he finished automatically.

“That’s great, Kevin.” said Mr. Smith. Keith rolled his eyes and walked into the kitchen.

“Hello, dear.” said Mrs. Smith as she was heading upstairs. “I made you some spaghetti and meatballs, it’s in the fridge if you get hungry.”

“Thank you.” Keith said to her as she finished going up. The Smiths did take good care of Keith, but he wished they’d pay a little more attention to him. He ate quickly and thought of his real family as he settled into bed. He wasn’t sure how he felt about his...friends knowing his secret. On one hand, he felt so exposed and vulnerable, he wanted to crawl into a hole and hide for another ten years. On the other, he felt a little excited. Maybe he could trust them. Maybe they could have fun. It was almost enough to make him laugh. His head swirled with thoughts of trust, friendship, and family. He picked up his wallet and took out his most prized possession: the only picture he had of his whole family. The picture was taken not long after he was born, his parents were sitting on a rock above the surface, and an eight-year-old human Shiro was sitting on his knees in his dad’s lap, peering at a small red bundle gathered in his mother’s arms. Keith could just make out baby-his face floating in the lump of a red blanket. His mom’s purple eyes (the same color as Keith’s) glittered with amusement at the amazed look on Shiro’s face, and his dad wore an extremely proud smile with an arm around his mom and a hand on Shiro’s shoulder.

Looking at them now, Keith missed them so much he could cry, but he bubbled with excitement at the thought of seeing Shiro again. He knew it was risky, hell, Keith was terrified just thinking about it, but now he had support. Lance, Hunk, Pidge, and Matt had been kind to him, and Lance looked sincere when he said they wanted to be his friend. Despite Keith’s motto: never trust anyone, Keith found himself making a promise as he put the photo under his pillow.

He would see his brother again.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Oooooooh shit here we go! (Btw if I ever am that late again, feel free to leave a "when are you updating" comment. I don't mind and it helps with motivation.) ok I just realized I forgot to give my absolute fucking bestie ramvne credit for helping me with this chapter; my impulsive ass wrote all the way up to when Lance pressed the start button before realizing, oh shit, I’ve never played this mf before! Anyway, if it weren’t for them writing the gaming scenes, this chapter would’ve taken MUCH longer. Ily boo!!


	9. keith makes me want to cry he's so beautiful I love him what a good man

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> ur mom gay lol

Keith looked into Lance's sparkly blue senpai eyes. "L-Lance Chan!!!!11! I wuv you!!!11!1" 

Lance gasped. "Keith Kun!!!!!1! You make my kokoro go doki doki!!!111" then they kissed and smooched for like a year no breathing we die like men. Then after that year, Keith pulled away and put his hand to his forehead and leaned back all dramatic like. 

"But," Keith paused for dramatic effect. "I can't be with you! I have to go save my kingdom from some crazy fish lady who doesn't know I exist lol!!!!1!" He wept some really fucking gay tears. 

Lance gasped again. "But!! What if instead we both went and killed and the evil fish lady together!!!1!"

Keith cried even gayer tears. "You're a genius lance Chan I wuv you so much marry me"

Lance shrugged. "I mean, if u wanna, I won't say no lolol!!1" and they lived happily ever after wow this was such a heart wrenching story let them rest their weary bones.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This ain't ur main ho y'all Canina Forgot to log out of her account lmao bye losers - @Ramvne


	10. Fins and feelings

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Keith is a drunk worm, Pidge is a little shit, Lance is happy, and Hunk is a dick.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Ayyyyy I'm alive! This was meant to be posted yesterday, but I forgot that was Father's Day : / I hope this chapter of fluff makes up for the wait! Thankfully, now that it's Summer, I have more time to work on this! Enjoy!

“Why are we doing this, again?”

Pidge looked up at Keith from inside the pool. “Because I said so.” she replied.

Keith just glared down at her and slapped a hand to his face, wondering what the fuck he had gotten himself into.

Earlier that week Keith had sat down at lunch with Lance, Hunk, and Pidge and told them that yes, he would be willing to go back to Daibazaal if they came with him, but he wanted to wait a while to get used to the idea. They all agreed right away, and so did Matt over a very awkward skype call in the middle of his class. Then they all talked about basic details, like where and when to make the trip, and how they would even get to Daibazaal.

That was when Keith made the absolute fucking mistake of saying that he forgot how to swim.

Everyone just sort of stared at him for a moment. When they realized he was actually serious, they all exploded.

“How the fuck-?!”

“No way!”

“You have got to be kidding.” said Lance. Keith just shook his head, expression totally honest.

“I’ve been keeping this secret for years, guys. It’s not like I could just hop in the public pool with a martini.”

Lance chuckled then flicked his arms in the air. “Wooo! This calls for swim lessons! Hunk, aren’t your moms working late tonight? Can we do this at your house?”

“Um, what?” Keith asked uselessly.

“Yeah, they’ll be out and Alondra should be watching Keira, so we’ll be totally unsupervised!”

“I have no say in this, do I?” Keith sighed with a small smile.

“Nope!” They all said simultaneously.

At the time Keith had only taken them half-seriously, but that quickly changed when Pidge _dragged_ him from his sixth period class into Hunk’s tiny gold toyota and he was whisked away from from a night of sitting at home and watching Daisy Brown videos.

Now he was standing next to Hunk’s pool in his swim trunks and learning to never disregard his friends’ plans for fun or help.

“So this is swimming lessons?” Keith asked Hunk, who was relaxing on a lawn chair at the side of the pool.

“Yeah, just jump in when you feel like it.” Hunk replied. “Pidge and Lance are really good teachers, you'll be racing dolphins in no time.”

Keith grumbled then looked down at Lance and Pidge, who were clearly waiting for him, standing in the shallow end of the pool. “C'mon, Keith! The water isn't going to eat you,” Lance encouraged, smiling big. It was a nice smile.

Keith shifted on his feet. He knew he was being ridiculous, he had no reason to be scared. But he still was. Something about learning to swim again, being a merman again just felt _dangerous_ . Keith couldn't explain it, but he had a foreboding sense of dread that made no sense at all. Keith normally trusted his gut, and it was _screaming._ He was so confused. This fear almost didn’t feel like his own. He _could not_ convince himself that this was harmless. He growled in frustration and ignored the ominous anxiety. He needed to do this to get to Daibazaal.

Shiro. He was doing this for his brother.

Keith walked onto the pool’s first step. Immediately his legs and swim trunks fused into his oh so awkward tail and Keith faintly realized he should have fucking thought this through as he face-planted right into Lance’s shirtless chest, nearly sending them both underwater. Keith, in his surprise, forgot that he could breathe underwater and frantically scrambled to stand up using Lance’s neck for balance. After a few moments of loud flailing, Keith remembered that he was a fucking merman and promptly released Lance from his chokehold. However he immediately lost control and couldn't keep himself level, his upper body kept sinking or he kept rolling over. What was going on? Why couldn’t he stay still? He was really disoriented, he couldn't even tell which way was up or down! Keith must have put on quite a show because Pidge and Lance each grabbed one of his arms and held him upright above the water while he gathered his bearings.

“Keith! Keith, are you okay?” Pidge was asking. Keith blinked the water out of his eyes and looked around. Pidge and Lance were leaning over him, each holding onto him. Hunk was kneeling at the pool’s edge with a life preserver in his hands, and he looked like he was five seconds away from throwing it.

Keith took a deep breath and answered. “I’m fine. I just got a little freaked out.”

“Yeah, you probably shouldn’t have let go of me.” said Lance.

Keith stared at him. “I was strangling you!”

Lance rolled his eyes. “Yeah, but at least I had you. You’re supposed to take baby steps, Keith, not just hurl yourself off a cliff.”

“He hurled himself off a step.” said Pidge.

“Whatever.” said Lance. “Okay, Let’s get started. Keith, hold onto me, we’re going to move to the deep end so you have more room.”

“Fine.” Keith said. Pidge let go of him and he held onto Lance’s shoulders as he swam them over to the six foot deep side of the pool. A ridiculous image of a possum with Lance’s face carrying her babies flitted through Keith’s mind and he couldn’t help but laugh.

“Enjoying the ride, princess?” Lance asked. Keith could _hear_ the smirk in his voice.

Keith forced the laugh back in his throat to die. “No.” he replied, then smiled and said, “You may continue, peasant.”

“As you wish.” Lance said with a small laugh.

Once they got to the deep end, Lance had Keith hold onto the edge while he figured out what to do next. Keith watched Lance examine his tail, and strangely he didn’t feel uncomfortable. He kind of liked Lance looking at him. Keith figured Lance must’ve gawked at it enough times that Keith was immune to the embarrassment. Yeah. That was it.

“Okay,” said Lance, snapping Keith out of his thoughts. “I want you to extend your tail. Move it around a little, get used to it.”

Keith did as he was told and swept out his tail. It felt heavier than he remembered, probably because he hadn’t used it in ten fucking years. He kept it waving back and forth, finding a comfortable rhythm.

After about ten tail flicks Keith felt much more balanced. “Okay.” He said to Lance. “What’s next?”

Lance held his hand out. “Now let’s get you under the water.”

Keith felt his anxiety relapsing. “Are… you sure about that?” he asked tentatively.

Lance gave him a reassuring smile. “Don’t worry, I’m going down with you.”

That made no sense, at least until Pidge started putting a snorkel mask on him with a ten foot hose duct taped to the tube. He looked absolutely ridiculous but it was such a cute sentiment Keith didn’t mind. Seeing Lance so willing to help calmed his nerves a little. After all, it wasn’t like they were going to Daibazaal _tomorrow._ For now Keith was simply ready to enjoy splashing around with his cute friend.

Wait, _cute?_

First off, Keith wasn’t blind. He knew damn well Lance was good-looking, even if he was an ass to him before. Dark skin, chocolate hair, ocean eyes, the whole fantasy. But _cute??? That_ type of thinking was _dangerously_ close to crush territory, and he was _not_ going to roam there. He and Lance had been friends for like, a week, he couldn’t possibly be crushing on him _yet._ Besides, they and their friends were going to go on a long ass trip together, Keith didn’t need a _crush_ fucking things up! This wasn’t a crush, Lance was just cute. _Just. Cute._

“Shall we, your highness?” Lance asked, sweeping out his hand and bowing gracefully.

“You’re such an idiot.” Keith said before tackling Lance and dragging them both under. Lance’s eyes shot open in panic but he recovered quickly and let Keith hold his wrists. Keith opened his gills and took several breaths. The chlorine in the pool made his head fuzzy, but he could still keep steady. He looked at Lance for further instructions. Lance pointed to Keith’s tail then made a waving motion with his arm. As Lance kicked backwards Keith flicked his tail to mimic Lance’s arm gesture. Keith then found he was much faster than Lance as he face-planted once again into Lance’s warm chest.

Keith immediately pushed himself away, his face burning even underwater. He was about to apologize, but Lance was laughing too hard. He grabbed his stomach and bent over, struggling to contain his giggles while keeping the snorkel mask on.

Keith’s breathing stopped. Even bent over and sloppy, it made Keith’s heart flutter and he maybe even smile a little as his face turned a nice shade of pink. Lance really was easy on the eyes. Shit.

Okayyy, moving on!! Keith quickly flicked his tail and glided in a circle around Lance. Lance stopped laughing and held out his arms to help balance Keith. He grabbed them, grateful for the support; although he had only swam around Lance to hide his red face. Lance let go of Keith once he stopped gripping his wrists, and Keith steadily swam a few feet further on his own. He was wobbly and off-balance but he grit his teeth and kept going. He pushed himself forward until he had circled the entire pool, then he pushed some more. He kept it up, slowly gaining speed until Lance became a flitting blur. He did a few more laps before he felt the tension in his tail. He should probably stop, overworking himself after ten years of absolutely no swimming probably wasn’t a good idea. He slowed himself until he was stopped, and it sunk in. For the first time in ten years, he swam on his own! Keith twirled back around to face Lance, a huge proud smile on his face! Maybe, a few more lessons like this and Keith could go home!!

Lance looked just as proud as Keith felt. Even with a snorkel mask on, his smile reached up to his eyes. Before Keith could blink Lance was surging in for a hug. Unfortunately, they weren’t as lined up as they thought they were and Keith found himself one again with a face full of Lance. His chest, specifically. Jesus fucking Christ at this point Keith should just motorboat him. Lance pulled him up for a real hug which Keith returned, still bursting with happy pride. They pulled away, and Keith was ready to take a short break. He pointed toward the surface and Lance nodded.

Once they were above water, Lance pulled off the mask and hugged Keith again.

“Wooo! Talk about a fish to water! You were awesome, dude!”

Keith smiled. “Thanks, man.”

Lance grinned even wider. “Bro, you were flopping around like a drunk worm just fifteen minutes ago, and the next thing you’re doing laps around the entire fucking pool! That’s so…” he trailed off and frowned a little, like he was hearing ungodly weirdness. Then Keith heard it.

“SHA-LA-LA-LA-LA-LA MY OH MY LOOKS LIKE THE BOY’S TOO SHY AIN’T GONNA, KISS THE GIRL-”

Pidge and Hunk’s screaming of the lyrics along with the music blasting from the portable speaker is the only thing Keith is conscious of as he melts into a puddle of embarrassment. At least he wasn’t alone, Lance’s face was quickly turning redder than Keith’s tail. They realized that they were still hugging and quickly sprang apart. Undeterred, Pidge and hunk continued.

“SHA-LA-LA-LA-LA-LA AIN’T THAT SAD, IT’S SUCH A SHAME, TOO BAD, YOU’RE GONNA, MISS THE GIRL-”

Suddenly Lance’s embarrassment seemed to have disappeared completely. Fucking traitor.

Lance swung out his arm with the biggest shit-eating grin ever. “May I have this dance, princess?”

Keith rolled his eyes, face still burning. “I guess, you weirdo.” he replied, and a giggle flew from his lips as Lance flicked him in a spin. It was horribly sloppy and off rhythm, but they had fun clumsily swirling around each other while Pidge and Hunk laughed and turned up the music. Their moves got bigger and more exaggerated as the spark of their old competitiveness flared up. They would switch who was leading, it all flowing into dramatic dips and practically throwing the other over their head. Halfway through the song Keith was leading and prepared to twirl Lance like a top on steroids when-

“FISHY!!”

Keith accidentally throws Lance against the pool wall. Pidge trips into the pool. Hunk says “Hey Keira!” He pauses and realizes his sister is staring _right_ at Keith. “Oh crap, KEIRA!”

The six-year-old gasped. “Hunkie! You said a bad word, I’m telling!”

Hunk’s eyes got wide. “Don’t do that! And what are you doing out here? I thought Alondra was watching you?”

Keira put her hands on her hips. “Loni fell asleep on the couch. And I’m a big girl, I can watch myself!” She puffed out her chest and tried to look as menacing as possible in her pigtails and puppy t shirt. “And I’m here ‘cause you guys were playing my favorite song wifout me!” she glanced over at the pool, looking at keith with an upset expression. “You even got Ariel! Why di’n’t you invite me?” she seemed to be on the verge of tears. Hunk immediately went pale as a sheet and lightning fast picked her up and spun her around while making plane noises.

“Aw, Keira! You ruined the surprise!” he cooed.

“What?”

Hunk stopped spinning and settled her on his hip. “We were going to surprise you because.. uh.. iiit’s funner that way! Don’t you like surprises?”

Keira pouted and played with Hunk’s sleeve. “Yeah, but you still cou’a told me something.”

“Ah, well, better late than never!” said Pidge as she took Hunk’s arm and guided them both toward Lance and Keith. “C’mon, don’t you want to meet Ariel?”

Keith’s eyes widened as he realized she was talking about him. He was horrible with kids! “Um, I’m not Ar-” Pidge quickly cut him off with a look that said “play along or I’ll fucking murder you” that Keira thankfully didn’t see.

“Oh, uh, hello Keira! I… needed a break from, uh, Atlantica? And your brother told me… how much you liked mermaids… aand I thought I’d pay you a visit! Happy birthday!” Lance kicked his tail. Jesus fucking christ _what_ was he saying??

Keira giggled. “My birthday’s in January, silly!”

Keith gulped. “Oh, uh, that’s nice.” Lance kicked him again.

Hunk sat on the edge of the pool. “Keira, this is my friend, Keith. I know he isn’t Ariel, but I think you’ll like him!”

Keira looked at Keith shyly. “C-.. can I swim with you, Keef?” she asked.

Keith wasn’t sure how to respond. “Um.. I guess?” Lance kicked him _again_ and before he could stop himself he hissed, “Stop that, you dick!”

It was like a grenade went off. Everyone stopped breathing. Everyone had a look of horror on their face. Everyone was white as a blizzard as the sweet, innocent voice of Keira Garret asked, “Big brother, what’s a dick?”

Hunk struggled to form an answer and plot Keith’s murder at the same time. “It’s, um…” he decided to tell the truth later. “It’s something you call someone when you really care about them!”

Keira was surprised. “Really?”

Hunk nodded. “Yeah, totally.” He was going to _destroy_ Keith later.

Keira shrugged. “Okay! Hunkie, you’re the biggest dick in the whole universe!” she said, giving Hunk a tiny bear hug.

They tried, they really did, to hold it in, but Pidge, Lance, and Keith completely lost their shit laughing while Hunk stared at his baby sister in horror. Keira just stared at everyone and wondered what was so funny.

After everyone stopped laughing, Keith felt much more relaxed. Laughing your ass off always helps any situation.  He noticed Keira was staring at him, and he smiled. “Well, lil princess? Still wanna swim?”

Keira smiled and screamed “Yay!!” Then she launched herself off of Hunk into the water, still in her t shirt and puffy skirt. All four teens shit themselves as no one caught her, and Keith swam lightning fast to grab Keira. Still underwater, he darted over to the shallow end and sat her on the steps. Hunk nearly tripped over his feet running to them. After everyone was sure she was okay, she squealed and latched on to Keith in a vise-like hug, yelling “Keef! You saved me! Hunkie, the fishy saved me!”

Lance watched as Keith positioned Keira on his back and started giving her piggy-back rides around the pool, and he loved the sweet smile on Keith’s face as his honorary little sister giggled and slapped the passing waves. He was especially proud at how much Keith had improved just from the start of the lesson, and he smiled from afar as Keith did a particularly complicated twirl that left Keira in a fit of giggles. He didn’t know why Keith thought he was terrible with kids, he was great with Keira. It was honestly adorable how Keith’s face lit up when Keira gave him one of her tiny bear hugs. Let’s face it, Keith was _adorable._

“You like him, don’t youuuu?” Pidge’s teasing voice giggled in his ear. Lance snapped out of his daze.

“Uh, yeah? Keith’s my friend.” said Lance, confused.

Pidge rolled her eyes. “Oh, come on, you’ve got that same stupid grin on your face that you had when you stared at Jenny what’s-her-face in sixth grade.”

Lance gasped. “ _None_ of my grins are stupid! And I had a _crush_ on Jenny, Pidge, I don’t have one on Keith.”

“Are you suuuuuure?” Pidge teased.

Lance rolled his eyes. “Yes, I’m _sure.”_ at least he thought he was. Lance was an affectionate guy, he thought all his friends were good-looking, but for some reason Keith was becoming _more_ than good-looking. In fact, he was downright _cute._ What? When did that happen?? First you think someone’s cute, then then the next thing you know you’re falling all over them! Lance did _not_ want to crush on Keith _now._ In a few years, maybe, but not _now!_ He had to be there for Keith during his trip home, he couldn’t spend time meant for helping him on drooling over him like a lovesick puppy. No. No crushes _for now._ For now Keith was just cute.

_Just. Cute._

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> *dies inside cause I can't write slow burn for shit JUST KISS ALREADY* Anyway, I had an idea to run by you guys. Since my chapters are getting longer and are taking much more thought, I was thinking that I will upload something every month on the seventeenth? And if the real chapter isn't ready yet (hope that won't happen) I'll upload a crack chapter? And say I finish the next chapter two weeks before, then it'll be a crack chapter? I like this idea, but I want to know what y'all think. Comment below pls! Thanks for reading!!  
> Oh btw I drew a tooon of art for this fic! I hope the link works!
> 
> http://aminoapps.com/p/1y76fd


	11. Caves and curiosities

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Pidge, Hunk, Matt, Keith, and Lance finally get a beach break, but not the kind they were expecting.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I stg this was up and ready to be posted on the seventeenth but due to computer issues, it wasn't possible. It is currently 2:28 am, it is finally ready, I hope this makes up for the wait!  
> WARNING: DEPICTIONS OF MAJOR INJURY IN THIS CHAPTER

Keith stared numbly out the car window. He had improved so much at his swimming lessons in the past few weeks that they decided to try him out at the ocean. Keith had protested, he still didn’t think he was ready to see the ocean, but his friends insisted. He was too nervous to think about it, so he just counted the waves while Hunk tried to park safely. ”Are you _ sure  _ I’m ready?” he asked.

Lance chuckled from the passenger seat. “Keith, my dude, my man, you beat me  _ and  _ Pidge in a race while Hunk was spraying you with the hose on full blast! If you’re not ready now, you’ll never be.”

Keith grunted and looked back out the window. “Yeah, but you guys don’t have tails. What if I’m not strong enough to swim all the way there?” 

Matt laughed. “You’re literally the strongest person I know. There’s no way  _ that’s  _ gonna stop you. Besides, this is only a test run. You’ll be fine.”

“Alright, we’re here! Everyone help unload.” said Hunk. Keith opened the car door and felt the ocean breeze caress his face. He sighed in relief. Even though he was fucking terrified, the smell of saltwater would always calm him. He stretched out his legs and then helped Pidge grab the heavier beach bags. 

Once everything was out of the trunk, the five teens made their way down the steep sandy path to the deserted beach. Luckily no one was here, there was a minor tsunami warning, but they didn’t care since they were going to the safest part of the beach. They set their things behind some boulders so they wouldn’t get too much spray on them. Keith looked back at the ocean. The rolling blue waves were hypnotic, yet intimidating. Keith knew he’d be nervous returning to the ocean, but his insides felt like soggy cereal. He was definitely excited to see Daibazaal again, but he just  _ couldn’t _ shake his nerves. 

Then Lance put his hand on Keith’s shoulder. “Keith? Are you okay?”

That calmed his nerves a little. “I’m fine, I’m just... just nervous.”

Lance squeezed his shoulder. “We’re all here for you, buddy.”

“Thanks.” said Keith.

Lance nodded. “Well, Hunk, Matt, and I are going cliff diving off there,” he pointed to the roughly eighty foot cliff right beside them, with almost no boulders at the bottom. “Why don’t you jump in with Pidge and we’ll meet you down?”

Keith smiled. He hadn’t had some one on one time with Pidge in a while. “Yeah, that sounds good.” 

Lance smiled. “Great! See you in a few minutes, bro!” He clapped Keith’s shoulder before running after Hunk and Matt. Keith watched him go with a smile, stress completely forgotten.

“Huh? Huh? What’d I tell you?” came Pidge’s teasing voice.

Keith immediately stopped staring at Lance’s ass and looked at her. “What are you talking about?”

Pidge took off her sundress which was over her swimsuit and walked toward the water. “I said you two’d be good friends. Was I right or what?” 

Keith smirked. “Yeah, yeah, laugh it up. You were right.” He watched her jump into the water and swim close to the cliff.

“What can I say? I’m a genius.” she giggled, and Keith laughed.

“How come you aren’t going cliff diving with the guys?” he asked. 

Pidge rolled her eyes. “Matt won’t let me, he says it’s too dangerous. I swear, he’s _ way _ too overprotective sometimes.”

Keith smirked. “At least your brother is just overprotective, not preparing you for literal war.” 

Pidge laughed at that. “Are you coming in?” she asked.

Keith shrugged. “Yeah, scootch over.”

Pidge swam a few feet over. Keith took off his shirt and took a deep breath. He threw the shirt on the beach and dove next to Pidge. Instantly his tail appeared and his mind went berserk. A wispy green energy to his left. Gold, sapphire, and silver plumes high above him. Miles away, a horrifyingly dimmed pale blue. Further away, a blinding, enormous swirl of dark purple. What was it? He needed to see. He concentrated  _ hard  _ on the energy. Dead center, he could just barely make out the figure of a mermaid. She was almost completely covered by a large navy purple robe. He looked harder. She was facing away from him so all he could see was the robe and the very bottom of a silver fin. Who was she? Why did she have so much of this...energy? Magic? What even  _ was  _ this stuff? Keith felt like he was being watched. He knew the lady knew someone was there. He was prepared to turn around and face whoever this woman was but he started shaking uncontrollably. What-.. What was happening?

“Keith! Keith, answer me!” Pidge was shaking him faster.

Keith gasped and shook his head, trying to clear his head “I-.. I’m okay, Pidge, I just got overwhelmed.” 

Pidge looked slightly relieved. “Are you sure you’re okay? Your eyes were glowing blue and you were muttering about a purple lady?”

Shit. Keith looked away nervously. He couldn’t tell her what he saw yet, he didn’t want to freak her out, and he wasn’t even sure if that was real. “I guess I hit my head diving.”

Pidge looked really worried. “Are you su-”

“Let’s talk about something else!” Keith blurted out, flicking his tail.

Pidge gave him a weird look. “Okay, like what?”

Keith frantically tried to think of something,  _ anything. _ “Uh… Lance!”

“Lance?” Pidge asked.

Keith would’ve kicked himself if he had legs. “Yeah.” 

Pidge smirked and nodded her head toward the small cave under the cliff. Lance, Hunk and Matt should almost be ready to jump by now. He followed Pidge in. 

“So, Keith, what do you wanna say about Lance?” she asked.

“Um, I don’t know, he’s really nice. I know you’d always tell me we’d work well together, but to be honest I never really believed you.” Keith held his arm and flicked his tail again. It still irked him that he had always ignored Pidge’s statements. 

Pidge sighed. “Yeah. I don’t really blame you. He may be my best friend but he was a complete ass.” She swam deeper into the cave and sat on the tiny beach.

Keith swam over and sat next to her. “At least we’re all friends now. I think Lance is cool.” 

Pidge smiled. “Yeah, I’m really happy you two worked it out.” Keith hugged his friend. He really was lucky to have her. If she hadn’t tricked him into coming over to her house and throwing him in a closet, he wouldn’t be here, getting ready to go home. Although he would still get her back, that closet was uncomfortable. He was grateful for her, so he felt he needed to be honest. 

“Pidge, uh, about Lance..” he started.

“Hm?” she replied.

“I… I think I might have a cru-”

“THIS BITCH EMPTY!!  _ YEET!!! _ ” the horrific cry came from above and was abruptly followed by a splash in front of the cave,  _ drenching _ Pidge and Keith.

Lance popped his head above the water. “Oops, sorry guys.” Lance said with a huge grin on his face. Keith glared at his crush, noting what a good-looking idiot he was. Lance waved up toward the top of the cliff to signal he was okay, then he swam over to join the other two. 

“What’s shakin’, bitches?” he asked, wiggling his eyebrows. Pidge splashed him in the face and Keith laughed. 

Lance laughed and wiped the water out of his eyes. “Yeah, I guess I deserve that. Move over though, Hunk’s coming down any second.”

Keith and Pidge nodded and swam behind one of the boulders. As if on cue they could hear Hunk yelling in delight right before he hit the ocean. Water splashed all over the small cave, even Pidge and Keith weren’t spared. Once Hunk resurfaced and waved to Matt, he swam inside to join the other three. “Man, that was  _ awesome!!” _

Lance grinned. “Hell yeah!” They high-fived and Hunk looked around the cave.

“Whoa, this place is  _ nice. _ ” he said. He paddled over to Pidge and Keith. “Move over, I don’t want to get splashed by Matt.”

Pidge laughed and swam out from behind the rock to sit next to Lance. “Please, my featherweight brother splashes less than a pebble.”

Keith and Hunk laughed, then Hunk turned to Keith. “How you holding up, man?” he whispered.

Keith shrugged and answered, “I’m still nervous, but I’m a little better.”

Hunk smiled at him and they turned to look for Matt.

He came down whooping it up, but something was wrong with his trajectory.

“Oh fuck, MATT!!” Pidge screamed in horror as Matt slammed into one of the few boulders with a sickening crack. Lance screamed, Hunk was too shocked to move, and Keith yelled, “OH MY GOD!!” When Matt didn’t come up for about a minute Keith came to his senses. He shot over the rock and swam toward the boulder, looking everywhere he could. He found Matt sinking toward the bottom; his eyes were closed and his left arm was bent in a horrific angle. Keith tackled his waist and flicked his tail as hard as he could to bring him inside the cave. Once he was in too shallow to swim, Lance and Hunk grabbed him and put him on the sand. Pidge was freaking out and Hunk held her while she cried. Lance checked him out while Keith made his way onto the sand.

Keith sat up. “Lance-” 

“He’s alive.” Like a miracle, Matt’s eyes began to flutter open.

“MATT!” Pidge yelled before tackling him in a hug. When Matt groaned in pain, she quickly shot up muttering “Sorry, sorry!”

Keith looked closer at Matt. His arm was insanely scraped and  _ clearly  _ broken, it was bent sideways just above his elbow. He couldn’t see any bone though, that was good. He could also guess that a few ribs were broken. 

“Lance, can you help Matt sit up? I’m gonna try something.” he said.

Lance stared at him. “Do you know how dangerous that is?”

Keith nodded. “Yeah. but I think I can heal him. Broken bones were my specialty back in Daibazaal. ‘Course, it’s been ten years-”

“Do it!” exclaimed Pidge.

Lance looked apprehensive, but he and Hunk gently pulled Matt over to the rocks they’d been hiding behind, and Pidge held his hand. They sat him on a rock so he was waist deep. Keith swam to him and gently placed his hands on Matt’s arm and ribs. Matt hissed. Keith was glad he didn’t need to set the bone to heal it, he didn’t think he could stand to see Pidge watch her brother go through that. “Matt, I need you to relax.” he said.

Matt gritted his teeth. “Easy for you to say.” but he closed his eyes.

Keith closed his eyes and concentrated. This was only broken bones and a scrape, possibly internal bleeding, he could do this. He felt the telltale buzzing in his hands, but it was taking too long. He tapped further into his power, and his mind started getting fuzzy. Once again, his friends morphed into wisps of color. He could still sense the barely shining blob miles away, and the supernova of purple. He was tempted to explore it, but he needed to heal Matt. He noticed that his own body had become an insanely bright swirl of pale blue. He sensed the purple entity spin faster, and he could almost feel her eyes on him. He needed to speed this up. He took a deep breath and forced his power into healing Matt’s injury. Keith threw the color signatures from his mind and opened his eyes. Matt was clearly healed enough, he has twitching and glowing pale blue. Keith’s hands felt hot and buzzed with energy. When he looked up at Pidge, Hunk, and Lance’s surprised faces, he noticed a blue haze around the edges of his vision. He probably should have warned them that his eyes glowed whenever he healed. He forced the energy in his hands to still, and the blue light slowly faded. Matt stopped glowing and twitching, then he laid back against the rock and blinked his eyes. His arm, thankfully, was completely straight, and Matt didn’t flinch at all when Keith picked it up and moved all his joints. 

Pidge hugged her brother. “You’re okay!”

Matt was still pretty dazed but he hugged her back. “That… that felt  _ weird.”  _ He poked himself in the ribs, then pumped his arm. “I can’t believe it! Thank you so much, Keith!”

Keith grinned, relieved that he was okay. “No problem.” 

Matt smiled at him then turned to Pidge and gave her an enormous hug. “And  _ that,  _ little sister, is why you aren’t allowed to cliff dive.”

“Oh, come ON.” Pidge started, but Keith tuned out their squabbling and laid down to float on the water’s surface. Healing was a particularly draining magic, he just needed to rest a little. The cave’s ceiling was pleasant to look at, and the sound of waves crashing against the shore was really soothing.

At least until Lance’s smiling face popped over his.  _ That _ sight was better than any ceiling. Still, he didn’t want Lance to see him blushing, so he quickly swam upright. In his haste he accidentally inhaled some water through his lungs and he coughed up a storm. Lance was pounding on his back and definitely holding in laughter, the little shit.

“You scared me, you ass.” Keith grumbled.

Lance giggled and it was totally unfair how adorable that sounded. “I’m sorry, you just look nice when you’re relaxed.”

Yup, that did it. Keith’s face was on fire. He whipped away from Lance and ended up facing Pidge. She noticed his lobster face and grinned evilly. Dear god,  _ no. _

“I know! Keith, Lance, do you two wanna play a game?”

Lance swam next to Keith. “Hell yeah!”

Keith gave Pidge a death glare, but she just made an innocent face and continued. “Well, the game is to say something nice about the person you’re playing with, but you can only use a certain amount of letters. Matt and I played it all the time when we were kids.”

Lance smiled. “Sounds cool! What are the rules?”

Pidge shrugged. “It’s pretty simple. The person receiving the statement gets to pick how many letters. You go like that, one statement a day till the statement sayer messes up. Then you switch. Whoever lasted the longest wins!”

Keith flicked his tail, distracting Lance. “How do we choose who says the stuff first?” 

Pidge grinned. “Someone who isn’t playing chooses. Hunk, who do  _ you  _ think should start?”

Keith shot him a look that hopefully said  _ “Not Lance! Not Lance!” _ but Hunk didn’t seem to get the message.

“I don’t know, Lance is pretty good with words, why not him?”

Keith mentally screamed. Lance was ecstatic as he turned to Keith. “Well, buddy? How many letters?”

Keith was so fucked. He was so completely fucked. He got so flustered by just  _ one  _ compliment, there was no way he could hide that from a whole _ streak  _ of them! He had to get Pidge back extra bad. “Uhh… seventeen?”

Lance laughed. “Seventeen? Really? I can almost feel Ms. Kathrine glaring at us.”

“Yeah, seventeen? I always picked twenty-one.” chimed in Matt.

“You sure did,  _ you absolute cheeseball.” _ added Pidge. 

Keith giggled nervously. “I don’t know, that’s always been my favorite number. It’s how old my parents were when they met.”

Lance smiled softly at that, then put his hand on his chin to think.

Suddenly his eyes brightened and he snapped his fingers. “I got it!” he said. Keith was completely unprepared for when Lance took his hand and flicked him in a spin. He  _ definitely  _ wasn’t prepared for Lance to put him in a dip and say, in front of all their friends, “You are  _ smexy  _ my dude.”

Pidge, Hunk, and Matt lost their shit laughing and Keith knew there was no way Lance didn’t see his face burst into red hot flames. It was horribly embarrassing, but there was nothing Keith didn’t like about having Lance’s face so close to his.

And Keith was one hundred percent unprepared for how much he couldn’t wait until the next time. 

*     * *

“Are you  _ sure _ this was  _ royal  _ energy, your highness?”

“I’m positive.” said the queen. She turned back to her map of the ocean and glared at the brilliant blue spot glowing just off of Geode Bay. It was the strongest energy signature she had seen in  _ years.  _ It was even stronger than her sister’s had been. 

“Commander, send scouts to Geode Bay. We must identify and control this magic before anyone finds it.”

“Yes, my queen.” He swam off to the barracks. 

The witch didn’t take her eyes off the blue mark. There couldn’t be any royal blood so far from Daibazaal. The only possible threat she knew of was that weakling prince, Shiro, and she had already drained the kingdom. No magic could ever be allowed to rival hers. She must find this source and drain every last ounce of magic from it. No royal blood could possibly exist, her premonition  _ and  _ the map must be wrong. She had studied Daibazaal for decades, this new upstart couldn’t be royal.

After all,  _ nothing  _ got past Queen Haggar. 

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I can practically feel all of you counting those letters lmao. see you in a month!!


	12. The Journey begins

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> After weeks of planning, Keith, Lance, Hunk, Pidge, and Matt are finally ready to go to Daibazaal.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I’m sorry this is so late! Next chapter is gonna be a big one!!

The sun was boiling hot on the general’s shoulders, and his patience was wearing thin. He had been sent to Geode Bay on a scout mission, but for  _ what?  _ To watch five teenage brats do nothing but splash around in the surf every afternoon for two weeks? He had no clue what the queen had seen the day he had been sent out, but it had to be good. They usually  _ never _ worried about human/mer interactions. If things ever got serious the queen would manipulate the subjects’ minds to forget everything. He saw absolutely no reason as to why he was stuck on babysitting duty rather than training for the war.

The small communicator on his wrist beeped, and he pressed the answer button. A little hologram appeared and he bowed. “Your majesty.”

The queen gave him a hard stare. “What is your report, general Raht?”

Raht sighed. “No change. The children come to the bay and swim with the mer, then they leave.”

“And what about the mer? Have you noticed anything strange about him?”

The general shrugged. “He must live in the cave because I haven’t seen him enter or exit this bay.”

The queen looked to the side. She was clearly thinking hard, but Raht was frustrated. He needed to be training recruits, not drying out in the sun.

“With all due respect, my queen, we need to prepare for war. I’m sure these young ones will still be here once our opponent is taken care of.” he grumbled.

She turned her cold eyes to him, and he knew immediately to shut his mouth.

“Do not question my orders,  _ general. _ ” Her voice was like a knife against his throat. “However,” she continued. “You may be right. I suppose I can watch this urchin myself.”

That didn’t make sense, how could she watch some random mer miles away from her? “My queen?”

“Return to base, general. Now.”

“Yes, your highness.” He turned off his communicator and looked back at the teens one more time. The mer was waving around a patch of seaweed to his companions. The general sneered, he was incredibly glad to be rid of these insolent kids.

*      * *

Pidge shrieked as Keith flung a strand of seaweed at her. “KEITH WHAT THE FUCK-”

“This is for throwing us in the closet!” Keith screeched as he pelted her. He tossed a clump to Lance who smiled ear to ear and pegged Pidge in the back of her head.

“Lance!!” Pidge yelled.

Lance chuckled and threw another strand at her. “It’s only fair, Pidgeon!”

Pidge dodged Lance’s seaweed but was hit by Keith’s. “Then why aren’t you hitting Hunk?” she asked.

Lance smirked. “I can never be mad at Hunk, he’s too innocent.”

“Thanks buddy!” Hunk called, then returned to his conversation with Matt.

“Oh yeah?” Pidge swatted away more seaweed. “The closet was his idea!” she shouted. 

Keith and Lance’s arms paused. They slowly turned toward Hunk, who was quickly growing pale. 

“N-no it wasn’t, guys, she’s ly-” 

SMACK! Hunk was knocked off the rock by two lumps of seaweed going at lightning speed. Matt laughed pretty hard until he too was thrown over by an expert pitch from Pidge. Hunk and Matt swam back around the rock, clutching the soggy lumps.

Matt climbed back on the rock and pouted. “I thought we were supposed to be eating this, not having a war.” 

Keith rolled his eyes. “Fine, fine. Hand it all over.”

Pidge, Lance, Hunk, and Matt all piled the stuff in Keith’s hand until he was holding what looked like the world’s ugliest head of lettuce. Keith drew his power into his hands, submerging the plant and himself in the water and allowing the pale blue energy to surround it. Concentrating, he inhaled the blue streams then breathed the energy into the center of the ball. The seaweed glowed pale blue, then bottle green, then dimmed. Keith resurfaced holding a new ball of beautiful teal seaweed. His friends were staring at him in awe, and Keith took a small orange backpack from Lance. He deposited the soccer ball sized lump into the pack, then handed each of his friends a strand about the size of a gummy worm. 

Lance inspected his strand. It didn’t look very appetizing. “So.. I just pop it in my mouth?”

Keith turned to face them all. “Yes, but you need to listen to me first. This stuff can be dangerous.”

Pidge grimaced and poked at her strand. “Sounds about right, there’s  _ nothing  _ dangerous about what we’re about to do.”

Keith rolled his eyes. “First off, we all have alibis, right? We’re going ‘camping’?”

The others nodded. 

“Okay, second thing is this stuff wears off after twenty four hours, so stay close to me.”

Hunk frowned. “What happens when it wears off?”

Keith looked uncomfortable. “Well, I think it takes five minutes, but your fins’ll retract, and then your gills will disappear. If you’re underwater at the time, well…”

Hunk gulped, then slid off the rock into the water. “Yeah, I think I’ll stick close to you.”

Keith continued, “Third thing is, since this stuff lasts twenty four hours, this is your last chance to back out. I won’t be upset.” He stared at them all in turn, but no one budged.

“We’re not leaving you, asshole.” said Lance. 

Keith blushed a little and looked down, really glad to have them, and a little more glad to have Lance. “Okay, then. Once you swallow the seaweed, get underwater as fast as possible.”

Matt wiggled his seaweed. “What does it taste like?” he asked.

“Shit if I know.” Keith replied. The four humans grumbled, then chomped down the plants. They promptly shot down into the water, and Keith slipped below to supervise. 

Lance lurched and contorted as his body morphed, his chest screaming for oxygen. The taste of salt, peppermint, and coconut was a pleasant contrast to the gripping feeling of sprouting new body parts. The fins growing on his body weren’t painful, just  _ extremely  _ uncomfortable, like a thousand clones of his grandma were pinching his arms and legs. He squirmed in discomfort, still unable to breathe. Suddenly, Keith swam around behind him and whacked him on his back. He took a sharp inhale out of reflex, but his mind was completely fucked when he felt the water flow through his  _ neck. _ He put a hand to his neck to explore his new gills, but had the shit scared out of him when he saw a spiny fin protruding from the side of his arm. He noticed identical sapphire blue fins on his other arm and the back of his calves. He noticed thin blue spines extended his ears, making his hearing clearer. He looked at his friends, who all had the same fins, gills, and ears, but their eyes were glowing. He put a hand in front of his face, and saw that his eyes were also emanating a sapphire glow. He looked up and saw Matt, Hunk, and Pidge poking and fidgeting with each other’s fins. Pidge was clad in a cute forest green, Hunk was looking nice in shimmering gold, and Matt was rocking his metallic silver. But of course they all looked plainer than a wheat field next to Keith’s blinding ruby. He tried to swim up to Keith, but he didn’t realize how fast he was with his new fins, and he got an accidental face-full of Keith’s ivory chest. He grabbed Keith’s shoulders and shoved himself off of him, Keith holding onto his wrists. They paused with their faces inches apart, and he was sure Keith could feel his racing heartbeat through his palms.

Then, of fucking course, their friends made themselves known. 

“shA LA LA LA LA LA MY OH M-” Keith turned beet red and fucking  _ tackled  _ them before they could say another word, squeaking and screeching in adorable fish noises. Lance quickly calmed his blushing and swam over to the rest of them.

“Alright, which way to Daibazaal?” he asked.

Keith looked at him and let go of Matt’s legs. “About 1,000 miles that way.” He pointed vaguely to the left. 

“1,000  _ miles? _ ” Hunk exclaimed. “How long will  _ that  _ take?”

Keith shrugged. “Maybe two days? You should all be much faster with those fins.”

Lance shrugged. “Well, let’s get started!” He turned and kicked his legs, but he still wasn’t used to the flippers. He was going too fast, and when he put his arms up to slow himself, his legs flipped over his head and he tumbled into a patch of coral. 

“I meant to do that.” he groaned.

Keith giggled cutely. “Here, let me help.” His hands started to shimmer.

“Thanks Keith. Wait, what the fu-” Lance managed to say before he was thrown up in the water by his legs, and dangled upside-down in front of Keith. “Seriously?”

Keith inspected his nails through the blue haze. “I don’t know what you’re talking about.”

Lance crossed his arms. “You’re still glowing.” he pointed out.

“Hold him still, Keith!” Pidge called before she zoomed over to Lance and started tickling him. Soon after, Matt and Hunk joined her and Lance was laughing so hard he couldn’t breathe.

“Ha-fuck you guys-haha! Stop! Haha, Keith, help!” he shoved Pidge off of his face and made his best pleading puppy look at Keith, hoping he’d free him from his torture. Keith’s face burned up and the blue glow around his hands died. He started fidgeting with his tail fin and refused to look Lance in the eye.

_ Fuck, he’s so cute. _ Lance thought dreamily as he let his legs go slack. He had to flail his legs before his friends would stop tickling him, but he  _ needed  _ to get to Keith while he was good and embarrassed. Keith looked up at him, and Lance grabbed his waist and flicked his victim into a deep dip. He quickly counted the letters in his head before whispering, “What is up, beautiful?” Keith looked like he was going to combust before he wrapped his tail around Lance’s ankle and yanked him off of him. He flicked both of them upside down and Lance was dangling by the ankle in front of Keith’s stupidly pretty face. 

“Not much, you?” he asked with a smirk. Lance realized this was a bad idea, blood was rushing to his head and he felt his cheeks warming rapidly. He opened his mouth to speak but Keith beat him too it. 

He shrugged. “Alright, we better get moving.” He spun himself in a circle and launched Lance toward Daibazaal. Lance tumbled through the water, desperately trying to find some direction before Keith grabbed his forearm. Lance blushed as he winked and kept swimming. Lance noticed that Pidge was clinging to Keith’s other hand, Matt was holding on to hers, and he felt Hunk catch up and grab his wrist. Lance subtly shifted Keith’s grip so their hands slipped together, and Lance saw the slightest tinge color Keith’s face. He studied the way their fingers laced together and Lance felt his heart jump. He knew that they weren’t planning on stopping for a while, so Lance got to hold his hand for the next few hours at least. Keith squeezed his palm and Lance’s face turned even redder. He then realized that  _ maybe _ holding hands for hours with the person you were trying  _ not  _ to get a crush on wasn’t a great idea. He stared at the pretty red webbing between Keith’s fingers and noted how nice it looked in contrast to the sapphire webbing between Lance’s own fingers. Keith’s hand just felt  _ right  _ nestled in Lance’s, and Lance took this all as a blessing. Even if he couldn’t be with Keith at the moment, he was still so glad he could stay with him and be there for him. Lance was indescribably proud of Keith for facing his fears and going home. He had come so far from being the terrified boy locked in a closet with him, now he was confident and beautiful. Crush or not, Lance was  _ proud  _ to call Keith his friend. 

Lance turned his face down to look at his surroundings, and his mouth dropped open. Keith hadn’t been kidding when he said that they’d be fast, the ocean floor was zipping by so quick he could only see flashes of color and the occasional maroon coral patch. He noticed that most of the plants looked pretty unhealthy, despite the sand around them looking rich. He tried to mention it to Keith but the rippling of the current stole all sound from his mouth. He pouted and held his friends tighter. This was going to be a  _ while. _

 

After about six hours, Keith had slowed his speed to a whopping seven miles an hour, and his friends were practically dragging him through the water. All of them were bone tired, and there was no way they could swim another mile without some rest.

“Over there!” Pidge exclaimed, pointing to a small cave just twenty yards away. They all limped toward the entrance and spread themselves out on the small floor. They all had each other’s limbs in their faces but they were too exhausted and disheveled to care. 

“So.” Matt panted, catching his breath. “How far was  _ that?” _

Keith pushed Matt’s leg off his face. “About.. two hundred… miles.” He sighed. 

Lance sat up in surprise. “Holy shit.”

Keith grunted in agreement and turned on his side. He ripped a small patch of seaweed off the cave wall and chewed it apathetically. He needed to feed his friends, so he swallowed the tasteless lump and dragged himself upright. “You all stay here and get some rest, I’m going to get dinner.” His friends chirped in agreement, and Keith’s eyes fell on Lance using Hunk as a pillow, and it reminded him of how much the two cared about each other. If Keith needed to talk to anyone about Lance, it was Hunk. “On second thought, I’m sorry Hunk, but can you help me? You’re the best at identifying edible plants. Hell, you crushed that stupid survival simulation Ms. Adam put us all through.”

Hunk laughed feebly. “Sure, hold on.” He gently pulled the now sleeping Lance on Pidge’s arm, who was also out cold. Matt promised to keep watch while Hunk and Keith swam down to the floor below. Keith absentmindedly grabbed fistfuls of seaweed as he tried to figure out how to start this conversation.

Hunk grabbed a few leaves off a long-stemmed plant and tucked them into Keith’s backpack. “Keith, I know why you wanted me down here.” 

Keith stopped swimming. He wasn’t that surprised, but he was startled at how quickly Hunk got to the point. “Uh… you sure?” he asked.

Hunk smiled at him. “It’s pretty obvious. You have a crush on Lance.”

Keith sank down onto a rock and put his head in his hands. He felt Hunk sit next to him and put a hand on his shoulder. Hearing the confirmation come through someone else’s lips made it horrifyingly clear. “What am I going to  _ do?”  _ he asked miserably. 

“I  _ can’t  _ like him  _ now,  _ we’re on a mission! Haggar could be alive! I need to stay vigilant! They taught me that in training! While you have a task,  _ no  _ distractions!  _ No  _ daydreaming! You have to protect your loved ones!” He paused, realizing what he just said.

Hunk ignored it. “Keith, we aren’t being attacked. It’s okay that you feel this way. You can’t just  _ stop  _ liking him. And besides, things will work out. This trip isn’t going to last forever. You can act on your feelings whenever you want.”

Keith hummed. “That’s one thing I’m not so sure about.”

“What do you mean?”

Keith looked away from Hunk and sighed. “Do you promise that you won’t tell anyone?”

Hunk nodded. “Of course.”

Keith took another deep breath. “I don’t know for sure, but when we get there, I’ll decide... I’m considering staying in Daibazaal.”

Hunk was silent for a full minute. Then, Keith was swept into the biggest bear hug he’d ever experienced. It must run in the family, Keira had almost cracked his ribs.

Hunk’s voice was shaky. “Keith, I’m really proud of you. Whatever you choose, stay or go, I’ll support you.”

Keith was bleary-eyed as he returned the hug. “Thank you.”

Hunk wiped his eyes and let go. “Alright, we should probably grab some food. 

Keith looked away sheepishly. “Actually, I’ve got that covered.”

His hands glowed their signature blue and a flurry of mismatched leaves, stems, and roots flew into the backpack’s middle pocket. “Seaweed salad, my specialty.”

Hunk laughed loudly. “Man, I could  _ use  _ that in my kitchen.” he finished laughing. “Seriously, I’m proud of you.”

Keith slipped on the backpack. “Thanks, Hunk.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hope you enjoyed! Next chapter will be soon I swear to fucking God!


	13. Home

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Keith and his friends find some familiar faces, and Haggar rearranges some faces.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> THE MOMENT YOU'VE ALL BEEN WAITING FOR, PEOPLE! I WON'T STALL YOU ANY LONGER!

So, seaweed salad, as it turns out, was fucking disgusting. However, Lance swallowed every bitter lump he could. He was absolutely exhausted. Keith saw him gag and furrowed his eyebrows.

“Yeah, I’m sorry about that.” he apologized.

Lance swallowed another lump and grimaced. “Why is it so  _ sour?” _ he asked.

“Keith shrugged. “Pollution.”

The humans all coughed and tried to spit out what was left in their mouths. Keith smirked and continued chewing. “It’s not going to  _ hurt  _ you. I purified it, but I can’t make it taste any better. Pollution does that.”

They tentatively put another leaf in their mouths. “How bad  _ is  _ pollution in the ocean, by the way?” Pidge asked.

Keith sighed. “It’s gotten worse since I left, but for one, plants don’t taste nearly as good, animal species have been wiped out, and just a ton of general bullshit.”

They all hummed in mutual disgust. Lance realized he had finished his portion of salad but he was still hungry. He was going to ignore it, but his stomach growled so fucking loud  _ everyone _ heard it.

Pidge squealed, “Lance, oh my go-” she was interrupted by an even  _ larger  _ growl coming from her own stomach. She turned as red as Keith’s tail and turned away. 

Keith chuckled. “I guess you guys are still hungry. Hold on.” as soon as he said that, his eyes started glowing. He gave what looked like a yawn, but his teeth were growing into fangs! Lance jolted and slipped sideways just as Keith zipped by him like a red piranha. Keith slid effortlessly down the side of the mountain, then hid in the bushes at the base. He was completely camouflaged except for his softly glowing eyes and shining fangs.

“Why the fuck are you  _ blushing?”  _ asked Pidge. Lance squeaked and shoved her into her brother and denied the red in his face. Then, he turned back down to watch the red that was Keith. He was perfectly still, watching the small schools of fish swim idly by. Suddenly, as a school of fairly large fish swam by, Keith struck. He rocketed out of the bushes and lunged at the fish. He bit one’s neck and strangled two others, killing them quickly and virtually painlessly. The rest of the school zipped away and Keith took the fish in his arms. He swam gently back into the came and his fangs retracted. He plopped them down, looking proud of himself. 

“ _ These _ should fill you up.” he announced. “King salmon. Just think of it like sushi.” 

The humans were reluctant at first, but took a few bites once Keith dug in. Once everyone was full, they grabbed hands and started off on the next leg of their incredibly boring road trip. 

They had been swimming at a steady pace of fifty miles an hour for nearly sixteen hours, since the fish had given Keith enough energy to go much faster than before. By that time, the four humans were nearly asleep from boredom, trusting Keith to wake them up when they were there.

That’s why none of them were prepared for when Keith suddenly stopped, nearly flinging them all forward, then abruptly  _ shot _ forward at a speed fast enough to nearly pull Lance and Pidge’s arms out of their sockets. Hunk and Matt had to grab onto them with both hands to stay connected, their eyes as big as saucers. Lance looked to Keith to see what the hell he was thinking. Keith’s eyes were huge and he was muttering what looked like “I can see it! I can see it!” Lance looked forward to see what he was staring at and had his breath taken away. Just a few miles in front of them, a  _ huge  _ castle rose out of the ocean floor. Its shimmering towers were made of beautiful teal sea glass, with bright orange coral windows. They spiraled into tips that glinted with some sort of strange metal. The sight would have been straight out of a fairytale, but the image was ruined by a twisted and spiky fence circling the castle and village in an enormous dome. It looked nearly impenetrable. As they got closer, Lance could see the barbed wire braided in the fence, and he realized that Keith showed no signs of stopping. Lance’s heart rate spiked and he desperately shook Keith’s arm and started yelling his name, but Keith was unreachable. His eyes were dead set on the castle, and he was going to get there, spiked fence or not. Lance’s breathing got ragged as he pulled Keith’s arm as hard as he could. Keith swerved downward and they tumbled downward into a rough patch of yellow coral. Once they were all still, Lance drifted upward.

“Keith, what the hell?! Are you trying to kill us?!” he asked. 

Keith sat up. “Lance, why did you stop me? It’s not like I was going to ram us right into that fence!” 

Lance rolled his eyes. “Dude, look!” he threw his arm outward. “We’re a fucking half mile from that thing! If I stopped you _ one minute  _ sooner we would’ve been crushed! We all want to get to Daibazaal but we want to get there  _ alive! _  We’re going to get there no matter what, so slow the fuck down!” he was breathing really hard at this point, and he was sure Keith could see how scared he was.

“Okay. I’m sorry.” he said. 

“Uh, guys?” said Pidge. “What the hell is that?”

Keith and Lance turned to see what she was talking about. A small section of the fence in front of them was glowing a soft blue. A hole appeared in the glowing patch and six merpeople zoomed out of it. The teens could barely think to react before each of them had a wickedly sharp spear against their throat. The merpeople were screaming at them to stay completely still, and none of the teens planned on moving. A very tall mermaid swam out from behind the group and pointed her spear at Keith’s throat, despite the one already there. She flicked her bright pink tail and spoke in a loud, commanding voice.

“State your business now, or leave this place immediately.” She pushed her spear another centimeter toward Keith’s throat.

Keith gulped, but kept his composure. “Look, we were only-”

“Well,  _ I’m _ here to meet some cute merfolk, and I am definitely  _ not _ disappointed.” Lance said with a flirtatious wink and finger guns pointed at the mermaid at Keith’s throat. A shockwave of “what the fuck” zipped through everyone’s minds before the mermaid at Lance’s throat smacked him in the face with her spear. Lance fell to the ground and a wave of anger flowed through Keith. He turned to scream at the yellow-tailed girl who hit Lance, but he felt the cold, flat edge of the pink-tailed mermaid’s spear against his royal mark.

“What in Amatheia’s name is this?” she wondered. She grabbed Keith’s chin and studied him closer. “Look at me.” she commanded. Keith pulled his chin from her grip and glared at her, furious that she’d used his mother’s name so flippantly. Her bright turquoise eyes met his with equal intensity, and she did not back down. Her stone-hard glare was achingly familiar to Keith, and he cocked his head. Wait a minute… pink tail, dark skin, turquoise eyes, and wisps of white hair peeking out of her captain’s battle helmet? There was no way, it couldn’t be… 

“Allura?”

Her eyes shot open even wider. “Keith?” They held completely still for a painful minute, then Allura gave a joyful cheer and scooped Keith up into a powerful hug. Keith started laughing and hugged her back even harder. “I can’t believe it’s really you!” he shouted, giddy from relief.

“I can’t believe I almost killed you!” Allura replied, near delirious from joy.

“I can’t believe it’s not butter!” Lance giggled, earning another smack from the mermaid’s spear. Allura saw Keith’s anger and immediately apologized. “Spears down everyone! They’re safe.” she barked to her team. 

They lowered their spears but they still looked uneasy. “Captain, how do you know they’re harmless? These humans look like they could cause some damage, and how can we be sure they aren’t the witch’s spies?” the one guarding Hunk asked.

Allura beamed and tapped Keith’s cheek scales. “These right here? That’s a royal mark. No magic can copy them.”

“So, that’s  _ really _ Prince Keith?” the one guarding Pidge asked incredulously.

Allura somehow grinned even wider. “It sure is!”

The guards couldn’t seem to process this, but once they did, they threw down their spears and cheered, though the one guaring Keith held back a little. They crowded Keith in a flurry of bright scales and armor, and Keith could not have looked more overwhelmed. Allura picked up on this and ordered her guards back. “Cadets! Back up, and take off your masks. We need a proper introduction with Keith’s friends.”

The five cadets swam back from Keith and arranged themselves into an orderly row. One by one, they removed their spiky helmets revealing four smiling faces and one calculating. It took a few minutes, but Keith recognized all of them and Keith’s face split into the most beautiful smile Lance had ever seen. “Ryan! Ina! Nadia! Nyma!” he exclaimed as they all ran into a group hug. It was such a mushy scene, but Lance couldn’t help but feel giddy as he saw the pure joy in everyone’s faces. At least until the merman off to the side cleared his throat and the hug dispersed. 

Keith turned to face him as the merman called Ryan said, “Oh, come on Lieutenant James, don’t tell me you’re still hung up on that old rivalry you had with the prince.”

Lance flicked upward indignantly. Keith had  _ another _ rivalry?! Jeez, no wonder Keith had avoided him so much.

Keith swam up to the lieutenant with a smirk on his face. “No, no, It’s fine Ryan. I had experience with a way better rivalry with an even bigger pain in the ass while I was gone.” Lance laughed nervously behind him.

James squinted his eyes at him. “Your Majesty. Finally returning after abandoning your entire kingdom?”

Keith glared at him.”Don’t give me that. You have no idea what it was like.”

James rolled his eyes. “Ten years and you’re still all high and mighty.”

Keith crossed his arms. “Ah, ten years and you’re still a bitch.”

Lance, Pidge, Hunk, and Matt were completely caught off guard and they burst into laughter they couldn't contain. Lance was nearly crying as he scrambled to give Keith a high-five. To Lance’s surprise, none of the merpeople were laughing, despite that wicked burn. In fact, they all looked pretty confused. Lance noticed Ryan lean toward the mermaid Nadia and softly whisper, “What’s a ‘bitch’?”

James regained his composure and scowled at Keith. “Look, I know you hated my guts, your highness _. _ But unfortunately now isn’t the time for jokes. Things have gone pretty awry since your disappearance, and as much as I hate to admit it, we need to work together.” he stuck out his right hand, bright copper scales flashing in neutrality. “Truce, for now?”

Keith stared at James’s hand and pondered his next move. He slowly took it and shook it gently. “You’ve grown up, Griffin.”

James nodded. “And for all our sake I hope you have too.” Keith gave him a sly smile.

Allura swam next to Keith again and put her hand on his shoulder. “Well, now that that’s settled, why don’t you introduce us, Keith?”

Keith blinked. “Oh, right.” he turned to the humans. “Guys, this is my friend Allura. She was my best friend when we were little. Allura, these are my friends, La-”

“Most people call me Lance.” he said, swimming up to Allura. “But you can call me,” he picked up her hand and kissed it. “Anytime.” he finished with a wink.

Allura chuckled. “Nice to meet you, Lance.” she reached out and grabbed the yellow-tailed mermaid’s hand. “This is my girlfriend, Nyma.”

Nyma smiled softly at Lance. “Hope I didn’t hit you too hard.” she said over Pidge’s hysterical laughter.

Lance blushed and swam backward apologetically. The others took it upon themselves to finish the introduction themselves, the cadets all saluting and stating their names. Pidge called out the names of the humans and everyone took a second to chatter about Keith and his friends’ journey. Eventually, Keith took Lance’s and Pidge’s hands and together they swam straight toward the beautiful castle of hope.

*      * *

Glass and shrapnel flew through the water as the witch tore through her seeing room in a fit of rage. She picked up another vase full of cursed stones and shattered it against the wall. She was not just furious, she was  _ consumed  _ with anger at the sight before her. She had no idea how, she had no idea when it happened, she could not even  _ fathom  _ the very possibility that there was another royal. She crushed another mirror into dust as she thought of how this filthy worm managed to hide himself from her Sight for  _ eighteen years. _ This disgusting urchin’s very existence was the largest insult ever bestowed upon her, even worse than when her name was torn from her. She ripped a glowing map to pieces as she screamed in rage. She glared at the last image she had of the royal and felt the pure hatred course through her veins. There was no possible way she could watch the royal through Daibazaal’s cloak. Too enraged at the royal’s escape from her to think rationally, she ripped the mirror from the wall and smashed it on the floor and screamed once more. She finally realized how loud she was when she heard the tentative knocks on the door grow quickly louder. She took a deep breath, adjusted her cloak and calmly answered the door. “General Raht. What is it?”

He cleared his throat and looked nervously at the wreckage around her floor, as if he believed in the very real possibility his entrails would join it if he didn’t bring her worthy news. He swallowed and said, “My Queen, we have received reports that the mer you have been tracking has entered the gates of Daibazaal.”

Haggar nodded, irked that he had started his piece with late news. “And?”

Raht blinked in surprise. “And what, my Queen?” he asked, getting increasingly anxious.

Haggar narrowed her eyes. She did not like to waste time. “And what is the remainder of your news, General?” she asked impatiently.

Raht gulped. “I… I’m afraid that’s all, your Majesty.”

Haggar felt her eyes burn with anger as she grabbed Raht and flung him into the room. She couldn’t believe this useless general had the nerve to remind her of her greatest defeat and not even bring her fresh news! She was sick of Raht’s obvious and useless reports, and by all the magic she new she was going to  _ make _ him useful. The foolish general was blubbering and pleading, but she didn’t have the patience nor the concern to make out his words. The crystal around her neck warmed as she concentrated all her anger into a beam of metamorphosis and trapped Raht in her magic. She ignored his screams of agony as she focused on the task at hand. His midnight blue scales glowed with heat as she burned them into a disgustingly playful orange. His navy skin bubbled and shook as it slowly turned to a pale coral. His black eyes streamed with tears as the irises brightened to a light aqua. His black hair effortlessly turned white, as his fear quickened the process. Once the tediously slow process was finished, she had a disgustingly bright merman who would blend in perfectly with the candy-colored Daibazaalian citizens. She finally released Raht and he drifted slowly through the water, too weak to do much more than whimper in pain. She swam leisurely up to his face and grabbed his chin. “As soon as your strength returns, you are to go to Daibazaal. Beg them to let you in if you must, and you must enter. You are to find my mer and bring him to me, or I  _ promise  _ your death will be much more painful than this.” She let go of him and he swam feebly out of her door. She leaned down and picked up a shard of mirror. She glared at the royal’s face, she swore to herself that she would get his magic even if she had to rip it from him, scale by scale, and destroy what was left.

*     * *

Keith stared at the walls of his childhood home with wide, wondrous eyes. The pearly white walls had hardly changed, and Keith’s mind flooded with memories. He stared at the hallway in front of him, remembering how he’d hide behind the purple tapestry, hoping to surprise some unsuspecting waitstaff. He studied the small repaired crack in the wall that was the result of a vigorous game of catch with Shiro, and he smiled softly. That smile then faded as he remembered how he’d torn through the hallway on the night of his disappearance. He shivered and held his arms. Three more doorways and he’d be there, finally with his brother. The old fear was resurfacing, he was terrified that Shiro would hate him for leaving. It made sense to Keith, he would often curse himself for running away. The panic started to rise up in his chest, and his breath became shallow. There was no way he could face Shiro after what he did. His nervousness peaked and he tried to swim away, but Lance grabbed his arm.

“Whoa, buddy, where are you going?” he asked.

“Lance, I can’t face him.” he said frantically. “He  _ has _ to hate me after what I did.”

Hunk put his hand on his shoulder. “That’s ridiculous. There’s absolutely no way he hates you.”

Keith whimpered anxiously. “But I left him.”

Pidge grabbed his hand. “And now you’re back. Keith, he loves you.”

Keith wrinkled his eyebrows. “I… I don’t know if I can do this.”

Matt looked him in the eyes. “Keith, you’re braver than you think. I _ know  _ you can do this.”

Keith sighed and still looked unsure, at least until Allura held his other hand. “Keith, we’re all here for you. Shiro misses you.” she said. Keith took a deep breath and hugged them all. “Let’s do this.” he said softly. Allura led them gently through the hallways until they reached a large stone door covered with precious gems and shells. Allura hugged Keith tightly, then kissed him on the cheek. 

“It’s time.” she whispered. “Go home.”

Keith took a deep breath and pushed through the door. Inside the throne room, there were hundreds of scrolls and what looked like battle maps littered on the many tables. Directly across from Keith, an enormous portrait of his parents hung delicately between the empty twin thrones. Keith scanned the room looking for him, until his eyes finally stopped. He could see the back of a large merman studying a glowing battle map, his black tail flicking back and forth with thought. What finally confirmed it in Keith’s mind was the pristine golden crown nestled in his familiar black hair. He already knew, but he just had to hear it. 

“Shiro?”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Boiiiii I have been waiting SO long to write this chapter, I really hope you guys enjoyed it! I hope you all have an amazing new year!!

**Author's Note:**

> Hope you like it so far! Next chapter should be up in a week, and i should never take more than two weeks to update without warning, so see ya next week!


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